When Skies are Grey
by loonymoony17
Summary: Sakura has just landed a new job as assistant to moody Vice President of Sabaku Inc., Sabaku Gaara. Meanwhile, her friends and new coworkers begin to become suspicious of the injuries that Sakura is always plagued with. How will this newfound concern affect a normally cold and distant Gaara? Will Sakura's friends save her in time? AU, Warnings listed in first chapter. SakuraxGaara
1. ONE

**Hey all! This is my first GaaraxSakura fanfiction, so I hope you'll like it! Just a few warnings: this is AU, and the characters may feel slightly OOC at times. This being said, I am trying to keep everyone as in character as possible, but since they aren't in the Naruto universe, things are bound to be a little different. Secondly, this story contains themes of ABUSE, sexual situations, and language. The abuse is not glorified and most of the times I skim over the actually scene of abuse, skipping to the after effects, but I just want to warn you so no one is taken off guard. This chapter does include some short scenes/descriptions of abuse, although it is not very intense.**

 **I hope you will enjoy this first chapter! I have the first couple of chapters written and I'm hoping to update every week-ish. The semester is almost over, and once it's done I will hopefully update even faster! (ps. I try to include some "Japanese" speech, using suffixes like "san" and "chan", I apologize if I ever incorrectly use a term, and I mean no offense to anyone).**

 **Disclaimer:** **I do not own Naruto or any of the characters associated with Naruto.**

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ONE

Haruno Sakura swallowed noisily. It was her first day at a new job, a job she didn't exactly want. She had been hired as a sort of assistant/secretary to some bigwig corporation executive. She sighed dramatically, this is _not_ what she had planned for her life. She wanted to go to school to be a doctor, _not_ run around filing papers and getting coffee for some narcissistic millionaire. Still, she smiled. Sakura was relentlessly optimistic, she always had been. One day, she'd save up enough money to get to school, she'd be top of her class and happy and –

"Who the fuck are _you_?" a bored, gravelly voice interrupted Sakura's thoughts.

Sakura momentarily forgot her name. In front of her was standing one of the most attractive men she had ever seen in her entire life. He stood several inches taller than her with a lean, wiry, muscular frame. His skin was pale, but he had a shock of messy red hair that contrasted his complexion like a drop of blood in a glass of milk. On his forehead was some sort of marking, it looked like a burn or a scar, and Sakura discerned that it was the Kanji symbol for "love". How strange. His eyes were a ridiculously bright shade of jade green and the lashes that rimmed them were impossibly dark. He was a walking contradiction.

"Are you deaf? I asked you a question," the man's cold voice brought Sakura back to reality, and she subsequently blushed to the roots of her pink hair.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, my name is Haruno Sakura," Sakura explained, bowing slightly and continuing to smile, "This is my first day here, and I'm not really sure where –"

The man held up a hand to stop her. Sabaku Gaara had a bad feeling he knew exactly who this girl was. His stupid older sister, Temari, had told him that she was hiring him an assistant. " _You can't do everything on your own, Gaara. I know you're a perfectionist, but it's just not possible."_ He had just hoped that she wouldn't go through with it. Gaara wasn't good with people, especially people that he didn't know, so this was bound to be trouble. And now, here he was, standing outside his office, face to face with a little, pink haired, overly-smiley woman. Her dress was printed with wildflowers. He shuddered.

"Ah! I see you've met your lovely new assistant!" Temari's trademark loud voice boomed. "Wonderful!" The extroverted blonde woman swept into the lobby area looking at Sakura, the woman she had hired a few days earlier. She said a silent prayer that the girl would be able to handle Gaara and his moodiness.

Saura felt her cheeks get even redder and she groaned internally. She probably looked like an absolute idiot. "Temari-san," Sakura bowed again, "it's a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure's all mine, kid," Temari grinned. She didn't feel bad calling the girl a kid, she was only twenty-one or so, and she had a ridiculously youthful glow to her. She sure did smile a lot. "I'm sure my charming brother hasn't bothered to tell you anything about what you're supposed to be doing, so I'll give you a quick run-down. This is where you'll sit," Temari motioned to a small desk with a computer and a plant on it. "Gaara here will be able to buzz you via the phone in his office when he needs something, or he'll email you. All of his calls will come to you first, so that way you can decide if he even needs to be bothered by the caller. Other than that, you'll mostly just be doing busywork on the computer, stuff that he doesn't have time to get to."

Sakura's head was spinning, but she continued to smile widely. She felt the split on her lip widen a bit and she fought hard not to grimace at the sting. "Thank you Temari-san, I really appreciate it."

Temari beamed at the girl. She liked this pink haired girl already. Her littlest brother could surely benefit from a bright little flower like her. She just hoped he wouldn't stomp that optimism out of her… "Well, I've got to be going, this business won't run itself. Until later, Sakura-san!" She shot a pointed glare at Gaara that clearly said " _be nice_ " and took her leave.

Gaara scowled at the pink haired girl in front of him. "You've got blood on your lip."

"Oh, I do?" he saw his new assistant blush bright red, for what seemed to be the thousandth time that morning.

"Yes, you do," Gaara was getting impatient with this already. "There's a bathroom down that hallway. You can go clean yourself up. After that, just sit at your desk and I'll probably email you something to do."

Before the confused girl could say anything, her new boss turned and closed himself inside his office. Sakura had no idea what to do. She looked around anxiously, afraid to move. _Come on, Sakura._ She coaxed herself to start walking towards the bathroom Sabaku-san had pointed her towards. The room was furnished beautifully, nicer than the average person's living room. There were pink couches and chairs with fluffy, floral pillows. Everything looked very expensive.

Walking hesitantly over to the large mirror, Sakura assessed her lip. The wound had healed up quickly, but it still split open whenever she smiled too much – which was unfortunately always. Damn her incessant cheeriness. She blotted the blood with a piece of toilet paper and waited for the bleeding to stop.

Meanwhile, Gaara was fuming in his office. Stupid, stupid Temari. She had hired him some dimwitted-little-optimist-tree-hugger for an assistant. Her clothes and been much too bright for the business world and her expression was much too…happy. It was disgusting. Not to mention the spontaneous busting of her lip. Did the girl smile so much that the stress cracked her lips? The redhead's head fell into his hands and he let himself dissolve into self-pity.

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Once settled at her desk, Sakura decided that she had better figure out how to check her email, just in case she had received any instructions. It didn't take her long to figure out how to access her emails, she was something of a computer whiz. However, she was disappointed to find that there was nothing in her inbox.

" _Oh well_ ," she thought to herself, " _I'm sure he'll send something soon."_

But as the hours ticked by, Sakura realized that she had been wrong. She had diverted a few calls, mostly telemarketers, and had transferred a few important sounding calls to him, but that had been all. After three hours of sitting at her desk, watching the screensaver on her computer, Sakura decided to ask her employer what she ought to do. Summoning all of her courage and putting on her bravest face, she marched to the door with purpose. She knocked three times and waited for a response.

Nothing.

Furrowing her brow, she tried again.

And again she was met with silence.

"Hn," she said out loud.

She returned to her desk and was shocked to see her computer screen had lit up. Quickly she sat down and saw that she had received an email. It was from Sabaku Gaara. There was no subject line, so Sakura opened it completely unaware of what it may contain.

It read simply: " _your task for the day: do not ever knock on my fucking door."_

Sakura's shoulders slumped. She sure was making a good impression on her new boss. Her tall, intriguing, handsome, new boss…Sakura shook herself out of that line of thinking. She didn't even want to think about what _he_ would do if he found out she was having such thoughts about Gaara.

She gulped as she typed a response _. "_ _My most sincere apologies, Sabaku-san."_

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"So?" the blonde girl prompted, "you promised you'd tell me all about your first day over dinner and you're barely talking! Spill!"

Sakura sighed. "Oh, Ino, it was…awful."

"What? Why?!" her best friend cried in dismay.

"Well to start off, my boss is absolutely effing _gorgeous_ ," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"And that's bad because?" Ino prompted.

"He's a total asshole! He's so good-looking I can barely think straight when I look at him, but he's a jerk and he probably thinks I'm the world's biggest dummy. I knocked on his door today because he hadn't given me anything to do and he emailed me and told me not to knock on his door," Sakura grimaced at the memory.

"You're kidding! He _emailed_ you?" Ino asked, her mouth open wide with shock. She couldn't believe her poor friend's luck. Sakura deserved so much better.

"I know," Sakura groaned. "I can only hope it will get better. His sister, the Head of Sabaku Incorporated, is very nice. I think she at least likes me."

Ino smiled at her pink haired companion. Sakura was always so optimistic, so trusting of people, and this worried Ino relentlessly. The happy girl never thought ill of anyone, not really anyway. That was her greatest downfall, especially in terms of a certain man that Ino wished she would just get the hell away from.

"So how's the home life?" the blonde asked innocently.

Sakura felt her face pale. Ino had been digging around too much lately and she was afraid that her nosy friend suspected something. "Oh, it's fine, we're thinking of getting another cat."

"Sakura, are you sure you're –" Ino began.

"Oh my god, it's already seven?" Sakura jumped to her feet, panic rising in her throat. _Shit._ She'd told him that she'd be home at six thirty. She was dead. "I'm so sorry Ino, I've got to run!" She threw some cash down on the table to cover her part of the meal and practically sprinted for the door, not hearing her friend when she stood up asking if Sakura at least wanted a ride.

The blonde cursed under her breath. She did not like the look of what had just happened. She also didn't like the look of the split on Sakura's lip. The rosy cheeked girl had actually seemed to think that Ino believed her when she lied through her teeth and told her that her cat scratched her while they were playing. It was awfully deep for a cat scratch and it had been a week and half since she'd gotten it and it _still_ wasn't healed.

It was at that moment that Ino decided it was time to do some real detective work. Sakura wasn't going to get away with her secrecy any more. Ino had tried to give her some space, but she was now too concerned for her friend's safety.

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Sakura tripped over her own feet twice in her attempt to get to the apartment quickly. She was so stupid. How could she even be this stupid? She had let time get away from her when she had been with Ino and now she was going to pay for it. _Fucking shit._ She groaned.

It was a fifteen minute walk home and Sakura began to wonder why she hadn't asked Ino to drive her. _Because Ino would have asked way too many questions._ The voice in Sakura's head quickly reminded her of the reason that she had to get home on her own.

Sometimes she had a car to drive, other times not. It depended on whether or not the pile of junk was actually running and whether or not he said she could use it. More often than not, he said no. It didn't matter anyway, driving the beat up car scared her a little bit, and it wasn't exactly reliable transportation. She'd broken down in it more than once and had been forced to call Naruto to help her get the car home. Secretly, of course.

She neared their building and took a deep, shaky breath. Everything was going to be fine. He wouldn't be angry, he wouldn't even notice that she was late. He'd probably be passed out on the couch with the TV on. Sakura plastered on her first fake smile of the day as she climbed the steps to the apartment they shared. Hands shaking lightly, Sakura attempted to fit her key into the lock. This, however, proved unnecessary, because as soon as her metal key made a sound against the metal doorknob, the door was thrown open by someone on the other side.

"Where. The fuck. Were you?"

Sakura swallowed heavily as she found herself face to face with her worst nightmare. The drunken and raging eyes of her boyfriend.

Sasuke.

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Sakura had been dragged inside by her hair and was now quietly sitting on the floor, back against the wall and knees to her chest. She knew the best way to calm him down was to not fight back and just let his anger burn out. Fighting only riled him up more. She knew this from experience.

Unfortunately for Sakura, this would not be one of those days where his anger died quickly and he apologized to her immediately, she could just tell. Today would be bad. He absolutely _reeked_ of alcohol and cigarettes and his eyes were blazing with a barely controlled fury.

That was the first time Sasuke really beat the shit out of her.

After the ordeal was over and the dark haired man had stomped outside to cool off, Sakura didn't think she could move. She was lying on her left side in the middle of their living room, wheezing as she tried hard to breathe. If he had broken one of her ribs she would be royally pissed, she didn't have time or money for that.

Rolling onto her back with a wince, Sakura was greeted by her feline friend. "Haruki-chan," Sakura mumbled to her kitty. The cat meowed in return, and the pink haired girl swore she sounded worried. "It's okay girl, I'm fine." As if to prove this to the cat, Sakura forced herself to sit up. "See?" she winced slightly. "Just fine."

Sakura looked around the sad little apartment. It was incredibly small and there wasn't much inside it. Sasuke's family was _very_ wealthy, but this didn't matter because at this point in his life, Sasuke had removed himself from them entirely. Never able to cope with the success of his older brother Itachi, Sasuke had "rebelled" by taking off on his own to "make his own way", dragging Sakura along with him. Apparently, to Sasuke, making your own way meant not having a job and spending all your girlfriend's cash on booze and tobacco.

If Sakura's parents knew how bad her life was currently, they would have immediately done something to help her. But Sakura would be damned if she ever let her parents find out what was really going on. All they knew what that their baby girl was living "happily" with her boyfriend and that she had just gotten a great new job. They were so proud. And Sakura would make sure that they stayed that way, no matter what.

Taking as deep a breath as she could with the ache in her chest, Sakura stood slowly. Clumsily, she ambled to the bathroom, wary to assess the damage. When she flipped the light on in the bathroom, she couldn't stop the horrified gasp that escaped her lips. Sasuke you _idiot_. She wasn't going to be able to come up with a good story to mask these injuries. She looked truly and thoroughly beaten to a pulp. One of her eyes was very swollen and starting to turn blue around the edge, and the split on her lip and reopened with a new fury. She brought her fingers up to her face, and this action brought another injury to her attention. Her pinky finger was pointing in an absolutely bizarre direction, obviously broken. The sight of her finger caused Sakura's stomach to turn over and she quickly lost her lunch into the toilet beside her. She was going to have to try to set her finger back in place. Bracing herself, Sakura popped her finger back to its natural position, unable to keep herself from crying out. She heaved several deep breaths, very aware of the pain in her chest as she did so. Reaching into the bathroom cupboard, she pulled out some prescription painkillers she had been prescribed for her "chronic pain." Sakura had felt bad lying to the doctor about this condition, but she just had to get some sort of relief for the pain that was inflicted upon her. Swallowing just one pill, she placed the bottle back in the cabinet where she hid it behind some lotion. It would be just her luck for Sasuke to find it. He'd probably try to sell it.

A few deep breaths later and Sakura was ready to start patching herself up. She started with her finger. She had some medical supplies lying around for scenarios like this, and now she was ridiculously thankful. She splinted her finger quickly and then moved on to her face. She applied some soothing gel to the skin around her eye and immediately felt the pain decrease slightly. Lastly, she debated what to do about her possibly broken rib. She lifted her shirt up and assessed her sore chest. She was badly bruised all along her right side, but she decided she didn't think anything was broken, thankfully. Lowering her shirt, she decided all she could do for her sore chest was let it heal on its own and soothe the pain with her medication. She started to think of an excuse for her injuries. She frowned as she decided she was probably going to have to tell people that she got mugged. She hated lying to people.

"Sakura."

The battered girl jumped in fright, causing a small yelp to escape her lips.

"Sakura," Sasuke repeated, "Sakura, baby, I'm so sorry."

Sakura's racing heart refused to slow as Sasuke approached her, slowly wrapping his long arms around her. "I love you, Sakura."

Sakura sighed, hating that she suddenly felt comfortable in his arms. "I love you too."

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Sakura had been obsessed with Sasuke as a child. She had trailed after the boy like a lost puppy all through their school years and was more than thrilled when he had finally decided to let her be his girlfriend. The time before Sasuke had abandoned his family had been wonderful. He had been a relatively good boyfriend and she had eaten up every minute of their time together. Things had gone downhill very quickly from there. After Sasuke's falling out with his family, he had become hostile. He started drinking almost daily and took up the horrible habit of smoking, which Sakura hated vehemently. He started hitting her soon after they had moved into this apartment, about six months ago.

Sakura wasn't an idiot, she knew this wasn't healthy and that she needed to get out, but she just couldn't bring herself to leave him. She convinced herself that things would get better. Things _had_ to get better. Before she knew it, things would be like they were in the beginning. She still loved him. She worried every day that this fact made her crazy, it had to be some sort of sickness to be in love with your abuser. Sakura hoped she wasn't losing her grip on sanity.

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Gaara tossed and turned in bed that night. Why Temari seemed intent on torturing him, he had no idea. Leave it to that bossy blonde woman to go meddling in his business. He decided that he was going to fire that new assistant girl the next day. What the hell did she think she was doing? Knocking on his door like that.

The thought of firing her had brought some peace to Gaara, and he was finally starting to feel more relaxed. After tomorrow, he would be rid of the little pink haired nuisance and free to get back to business as usual.

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 **Yikes! I hope you liked this first chapter. Leave me a review and let me know! If enough of you seem interested in this I may just go ahead and put up the second chapter since it's already written. Thanks for reading!**


	2. TWO

**I was gonna wait a few more days to post this chapter but eh…it's already written so what the hell. I'm coming up on finals week here so I should probably save my written chapters to post when I don't have time to write but I'm impatient, so lucky you! Chapter 3 is close to being done, but don't expect that one to be up as fast ;)**

 **This chapter is too rushed, but I don't feel like re-writing it. If the quickness bothers you, I'm sorry, I promise the next few chapters will slow down and be lessed rushed.**

 **Let me know what you think so far!**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, (but I wish Gaara was) 3**

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TWO

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror. She still looked pretty awful. The swelling around her eye had decreased slightly but it still definitely looked like someone had clocked her. She was very obviously favoring her right side and there was no way to hide the splint on her pinky. She sighed as she glanced at her wristwatch. It was going to be a long walk to work that morning. The buses didn't run at the right time for her to catch one that would bring her to work on time, and so she had to brave the distance on foot. Luckily, it was only a twenty minute walk or so.

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Sakura was huffing and puffing by the time she reached the front doors of Sabaku Inc. Making sure to push the door open with her left hand, she stepped inside the air conditioned building and made her way to the elevator. Gaara's office was several floors up and there was no way she could make it up the stairs today.

"Sakura-san?" Temari's voice surprised the girl.

"Oh, good morning!" Sakura greeted the older woman with a slight bow, as she had done before.

"Are you alright?" Temari was incredibly concerned. The girl looked like she'd been absolutely wailed on.

"Oh, um, yeah, yeah I'm just fine! I actually got mugged on my way home from work last night," Sakura prayed the blonde didn't see through her lie.

"Oh my god!" Temari gasped. "You should have called in! You shouldn't be working like this."

"Oh no, please," Sakura got worried. She couldn't lose this job.

Sensing the worry in her voice, Temari quickly reassured her. "Don't worry, Sakura-san, I won't send you home, but are you sure that you're alright to be here?"

Sakura nodded. "Of course! I'm really okay."

Temari was very skeptical of this whole situation. She took pride on being a very intuitive woman. "Did you see who mugged you? Do you have a description?"

Sakura tensed, and this detail most certainly did not escape Temari's keen gaze.

"No," Sakura said slowly, "No, his face was covered by some sort of mask. He just hit me a few times, took my wallet and ran." Sakura cursed herself for not perfecting her story before she came in to work.

"Alright," Temari faked belief. "Let me at least walk you upstairs."

The two women got on the elevator together.

"Sakura," Temari said, "remind me of your boyfriend's name?"

"Sasuke," Sakura said, not missing a beat. "Wait, how did you know that I have a boyfriend?"

"You told me," Temari lied coolly. She had always been an excellent liar.

"Oh," was all the girl next to her said.

"This isn't meant to be too personal, so don't feel obligated to answer," Temari began slowly, "but since you said you got mugged on your way home last night, can I assume that you don't have a car?"

Sakura felt her cheeks redden. "Oh no, we do have a car, but Sasuke just needs to use it a lot so I mostly walk."

"Ah," was all Temari responded with.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

When the car reached Sakura's floor, the two women bid each other polite goodbyes and Sakura exited the elevator, Temari exited as well and walked in the other direction. Upon reaching her desk, she found that Sabaku-san was nowhere to be found and assumed he was closed up in his office again. She sighed solemnly and sat down at her desk, dreading the day ahead of her.

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Temari nearly slammed her office door shut.

Sakura was so obviously being abused by her boyfriend! The blonde was fuming. What kind of asshat could possibly be capable of hitting a little ray of sunshine like Sakura? And by the looks of things, he hadn't just hit her. She looked as though she had been beaten senseless. Temari was very observant. At first, all she noticed was Sakura's eye. But upon closer and prolonged inspection, she had noticed other things as well. Her right side had _definitely_ been causing her considerable pain, and the poor girl had winced with every step she took. Temari also noticed that she had a broken pinky finger.

The blonde girl proceeded to type very angrily.

"Gaara, come to my office **ASAP!"**

Temari sat back and waited for her little brother.

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Gaara received several hundred emails every day, and several dozen of those were from his sister. They usually had stupid subject lines like "How to improve your success in 7 simple steps" or "motivation for your work day." They were pointless mass emails she sent out to the staff to "keep spirits high", as she said. He was surprised when a new email from Temari popped up with a subject line that read "URGENT!" He rose from his chair. This was very unusual. On most occasions when his sister needed to speak with him, she would seek him out. She was a busy-body and constantly needed to be moving.

He decided it would be potentially dangerous for him to ignore his sister, and so he walked around his desk to the door of his office.

He was not prepared for the sight that met his eyes.

Before him sat a very battered version of the pink haired girl he had met yesterday. She noticed him almost immediately and quickly sprang to her feet. The redhead didn't miss the wince that this action elicited.

Sakura bowed slightly-with yet another wince-and smiled sweetly, "Good morning, Sabaku-san."

Gaara chose to nod at her quickly and nothing more. He walked away briskly, a little confused and shaken by the sight he had just seen. Why the hell did she look all beat up? She didn't seem like the type to get into fights. There was an unfamiliar feeling is his gut and he really didn't like it.

Upon reaching his sister's office, Gaara noticed that the door was closed. "Temari?" he asked, knocking lightly.

"Gaara!" Temari leapt out of her chair. "Come in and shut the door."

Gaara was incredibly puzzled, but he did as his older sister asked of him. Once the door was shut, Temari launched into what she had so obviously been dying to say. "Your poor assistant!"

Gaara really wasn't one for beating around the bush. "I noticed," he said simply.

"You _noticed_?" Temari scoffed. "Honestly, Gaara, how can you be so cold all the time?"

Gaara simply shrugged his shoulders, which earned an eye roll from the woman across from him.

"I'm pretty sure that her boyfriend is hitting her. When she came in this morning she told me she got mugged, but I don't believe her for a second. She was so flustered I swear to god she was making up the story on the spot. The part that really made me think she was lying was when she told me the mugger had just stolen her wallet, because she was carrying the same wallet that she had been last night. Not to mention the fact that someone obviously beat the shit out of her right side. If someone just wanted her wallet, why would they need to hit her so much _and_ break her finger? It just doesn't add up. I _also_ completely caught her off guard by asking her what her boyfriend's name was, even though she had never mentioned having one. She apparently walks to work because she says that he needs their car so she can't use it," Temari sucked in a deep breath after her long-winded story.

Gaara contemplated this for a moment. He always struggled to understand domestic violence. He had always been a somewhat violent person, but he knew he could never hit a girl, especially if she was his girlfriend. This train of thought brought on an awkward mental image of the assistant girl as his girlfriend, and he quickly shook it off. This was all getting to be too much.

"Temari," Gaara finally said, treading carefully, "you can't really do anything about this. Domestic abuse is a very…personal subject. You can't just go bringing that kind of thing up with people."

Temari stared at her little brother, open mouthed. "Sometimes I don't understand how you can still be this insensitive, Gaara! That tiny girl upstairs is probably five foot two, and looks like she barely weighs a hundred pounds. Some asshole that is the poor thing's _boyfriend_ beat the living shit out of her and made her walk to work the next morning. As a human being, I implore you, just try to feel bad for her."

Gaara was getting _very_ uncomfortable with this situation. He put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright. How about this; if she comes in looking beat up again, I won't protest you looking into it. But you have to be reasonable here. We don't know for sure that it was her boyfriend. Maybe she was telling the truth."

Temari appeared to relax. "Fine."

Gaara stood up to leave. Nodding at his sister once, he quickly exited her office.

Temari rolled her eyes. If Gaara honestly thought that she was going to wait for Sakura to get beat up again to start snooping around, he was an idiot. That evening, she was going to do some serious recon. But for now, she had a company to run, and so the worried blonde tried to push Haruno Sakura to the back of her mind, for a short time, at least.

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Gaara hated how awkward he felt walking back to his _own_ office. Curse that woman. Curse her for calling him down there and telling him all of her crazy ideas. Sakura's boyfriend was hitting her? No way. She didn't seem the type to date that kind of guy. She was too…freakishly happy. He had all but convinced himself that his sister had been wrong, and thought he had prepared himself to take a good look at the pink haired girl as he reentered the lobby outside of his office.

Sakura didn't notice him at first, and he took advantage of her obliviousness. Someone had definitely hit her with a pretty solid punch to the face, that much was for sure. But he reasoned that that wasn't so unreasonable for someone who had been mugged. What he noticed next was slightly more unusual. The girl was taking very, _very_ quick and shallow breaths, obviously trying to breathe while moving her chest as little as possible. A wince clouded her features every few seconds. Gaara could at least admit to himself that the obvious chest injuries seemed a little fishy and excessive for a simple case of someone stealing her wallet. Last was the broken finger. He imagined that she got it while trying to shield herself, which again implied a prolonged session of abuse. Maybe Temari _was_ right. Damn that woman, trying to get him all concerned about a girl he didn't even know and was planning to fire.

Suddenly, the injured girl looked up and the two of them locked eyes briefly. The pain that was communicated to him in that incredibly short instance convinced him for certain that Temari had been right. He cursed her for the thousandth time that day.

The girl jumped up almost immediately, obviously causing herself great pain, but hiding it very well, and greeted him quickly, "Hello, Sabaku-san, is there anything I can help you with?"

Gaara just stared at her. He had absolutely no idea how to act. He was already very bad with social interaction, and what he was facing right now was obviously the universe playing some sort of malicious trick on him. Not only was he faced with someone he barely knew who was suddenly working for him, but now he was fairly certain that that person was being abused and was lying to cover it up. Not to mention the fact that she was a _girl_. Gaara hadn't dated anyone in a while. Girls were attracted to him at first because they thought he was cute, that much he knew, but he quickly lost their interest when they found out that he was often an "unfeeling asshole". He was not very good at conversation with the opposite sex, that was an absolute fact.

Sakura cleared her throat and he was immediately brought back to the present. She was blushing now and damn it, she was giving him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Speaking without thinking, he blurted, "Are you sure you should be working? You seem a little worse for the wear."

If Gaara thought the girl had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to the cherry color her cheeks turned then. Her face was almost the same color as her hair. He shifted uncomfortably. What the hell was he supposed to say?

"It's nothing, just a little run in I had on the way home from work last night. It was stupid for me to walk alone, I'll be smarter next time," Sakura rushed to get her words out. "I swear I'm not some idiot, I hope you don't think so." She met his eyes again, looking up through her long, black lashes, and that heavy feeling in his stomach returned with a vengeance. He really needed to get away from her. She was freaking him out.

"Well…if you're sure," was all Gaara could think to say. "Um, I can get you something to do, hold on." He took this excuse to dash into the safety of his office and shut the door behind him. He actually had a considerable amount of work to do that day. Sabaku Inc. was prospering and this made for a lot of work for the company. Looking through his work, he tried to find something for the girl to do. Finding a stack of papers that needed scanned into certain computer programs, he composed himself quickly. He just had to walk out there, tell her what to do, and get back into his office. He could do that.

Opening his office door, he strode quickly over to the small girl's desk. He quickly explained to her the task he had come up with. "Does that make sense to you?" he asked, gruffly.

Sakura nodded quickly. "Yes, I've got it. Thank you, Sabaku-san. I'm glad to have something to do, I'd hate to be more of a burden than a help." She flashed him with one of those smiles and he felt very, _very_ bad.

"No problem," he muttered icily and he spun around quickly and all but ran back to his office. Leaning back against the closed door, he made a silent wish that the girl on the other side wouldn't show up for work ever again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura finished the task she had been given in less than thirty minutes. She stacked the scanned papers on her desk and opened up her email.

"Sabaku-san, I finished the task you gave me. I have the papers out here on my desk if you would like them back. If there is anything else I can do, please let me know.

Haruno Sakura"

Sakura decided that emailing the redhead would be the best way to communicate, seeing as how he had gotten angry that time she had knocked on his door. She hoped he would email back, she didn't want to spend her whole day playing solitaire on her computer.

However, by the time five o'clock rolled around, the pink haired girl had won seventeen games.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Temari shut her computer monitor off at five o'clock exactly. She was now free to put some thought into Gaara's new assistant. What could she do? What would be the best way to snoop into her personal life without getting too close and giving herself away? The girl had to have some friends, maybe Temari could get some information out of them.

The blonde woman sighed. She would have to be sneaky about this. She couldn't just start a random communication with one of Sakura's friends, whoever it was would probably tell Sakura and then the whole thing would be ruined. No, Temari had to be smart, she would plan this in a way that she could find out what she needed to know and save the little pink haired girl down the hall. She had always had a somewhat overzealous sense of justice, and once the woman had given herself a project, she would never back down.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When her boss failed to come out of his office fifteen minutes after five, Sakura decided that it was okay for her to leave. She figured he actually may have been waiting for her to go so that he could avoid her. Sakura chuckled involuntarily. She found his antisocial behavior to be funny and kind of endearing. She figured she should probably be offended by his actions, but she just thought the whole thing was funny. The vice president of a huge multi-million dollar corporation felt awkward talking to his secretary. She laughed out loud at this thought, smiling cheerfully.

On the other side of the door, Gaara frowned. What the hell was she laughing about and why the hell wouldn't she leave? He shook his head with irritation. He wanted desperately to go home, but he refused to leave his office until he knew the girl was gone. He didn't think he could stomach talking to her again that day.

"Bye, Sabaku-san!" he heard the girl yell from the other side of the door. He remained silent as he heard her footsteps slowly fade.

"Thank god," Gaara sighed.

Gathering all his items and getting ready to leave, Gaara was inclined to look out his office window for some unknown reason. There, walking along the sidewalk, was his assistant. You couldn't miss her, not even in a crowd, because of her head of soft pink hair. She was walking quickly, like she had somewhere to be, and it was then that Gaara remembered the girl didn't have a car to drive. He was suddenly struck with the notion that maybe he should have asked her if she needed a ride.

It took all he had not to smack himself in the forehead. What the hell was wrong with him? He'd never given anyone a ride anywhere in his entire life. Well, there was one person, but he didn't count. They were best friends, after all.

This was completely different. He made himself a mental promise right then and there. He would absolutely never offer Haruno Sakura a ride. Ever. He swore on both of his dead parents. He watched her as she continued to walk until she turned down an alley and disappeared from his view.

He groaned out loud. This was all Temari's fault.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she pulled out the device to see that she had a text from Ino. It read: "come over?"

Sakura sighed sadly. There was no way she could get out of going home tonight. After her lateness last night, Sasuke probably wouldn't let her go out for quite some time. He always claimed he would get too worried about her and needed to keep an eye on her. She used to believe him, but now…

Now Sakura was scared. She was becoming increasingly aware of the danger that staying with Sasuke posed. She knew she might have to leave him, but she didn't even know how to begin. They had been together for five years and now they _lived_ together. It wasn't easy to just walk out on something like that. Plus, the first few years of their relationship had been great. Sasuke had always been moody, but his temper was controlled and they never had any overly serious problems. But when Sasuke started drinking, things went from fine to bad to very bad in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Another reason that she would have to turn Ino down was on account of her injuries. If Ino saw her, Sakura knew the girl would figure it out. She had been suspicious of Sasuke for months now, and the pink haired girl's appearance would only confirm Ino's speculations.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ino frowned at her phone. Sakura had texted back, "Sorry girl, I can't. Promised Sasuke that we could hang out tonight."

Ino trusted Sasuke about as far as she could throw him. That guy had gotten _creepy_ lately and Ino didn't like it. Sakura had gotten different too. She was still disgustingly optimistic, but there was something in her eyes lately that Ino didn't like at all. It was like pain and sadness and fear.

Ino decided right then that she was going to get to the bottom of this. She was almost positive now that something was going on, and she took it as her responsibility as Sakura's best friend to protect the pink haired beauty. She would have to be tactful. Sakura had been awfully secretive lately and that girl had a temper to match Hades himself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasuke wasn't home. The car was gone and so was he. Sakura wasn't particularly concerned, this wasn't unusual for him. He could be gone for a couple of days at a time and he always came back with an explanation and often some sort of gift for her.

Changing into her pajamas, Sakura went to the bathroom to get some pain medicine. She took two pills this time, not liking it but feeling she had no other choice. The walk home had put a lot of strain on her chest, and the pain was becoming too much to manage on her own. She trudged to the living room and plopped herself down on the worn out couch, flipping the TV on with the remote, when suddenly the television shut back off and the apartment went dark. The power went out?

Sakura quickly realized it was just her apartment that was dark. She had no idea what was going on, she could've swore she paid the bill.

She cursed. No, she hadn't paid the bill, Sasuke had told her that he would take care of it, she remembered now. As much of a bum as Sasuke had been lately, he did occasionally offer to do things for her, and when he offered, he almost always did what he said. Whether it be pay a bill, go to the grocery, or what have you, most of the time he'd do it if he offered. But now Sakura could see she wouldn't even be able to rely on _that_ anymore.

Sighing, she knew she'd probably be spending the rest of the night without electricity. Since Sasuke wasn't home, she considered calling Ino and asking to stay with her, but Sasuke could be home at any time. If he showed up and Sakura wasn't there, there would be hell to pay.

She chuckled with irony as she realized that at least she wouldn't have to worry about refrigerated food spoiling. There was nothing in the fridge but old milk and a carton of sour strawberries. This thought reminded her that she was going to need to eat something, and she sighed as that prospect meant more walking. Maybe she would just sleep instead. It was starting to get dark outside, and the events of the day combined with the effects of the pain killers were starting to make her drowsy. She laid back on the couch, feeling Haruki jump up and lay down, curled up around one of her feet.

Sakura drifted off to sleep, letting the darkness engulf her completely.

* * *

 **Wahhh poor Sakura! She should really let her friends help her…**

 **Wanna see the next chapter soon? Leave me a review and let me know! ;)**


	3. THREE

**Alright, this is pretty ridiculously early…again. But I've decided that I want to try to post updates on Sundays and since it's Sunday…here you go. I think from now on it'll probably be once a week updates. ;)**

 **I really tried to slow this chapter down a little bit, thanks to some helpful reviews I could really see the first two chapters were kind of rushed. From now on, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem.**

 **There isn't a ton of Gaara in this chapter…sorry. But there are definitely some cute Naruto/Sakura friend moments 3 Don't worry, there will be a lot of Gaara in chapter 4, hehe :D**

* * *

THREE

The rest of the week went by fairly uneventfully for Sakura. She went to work every morning, did the mindless tasks that her redheaded boss would email to her, come home to find Sasuke still missing, and go to sleep with her feline friend on the couch. On _her_ couch.

Sakura had been sleeping on the couch for as long as she could remember. The only time Sasuke consented to share the bed with her was when he wanted sex.

Sakura stretched and sat up from her couch-bed. She had been successfully able to avoid Ino and Naruto all week, somehow, but today they were both demanding to see her. She sighed deeply. Sasuke wasn't here so she couldn't tell him that she was leaving. She'd just have to hope to the gods that he wouldn't show up while she was gone.

Her injuries had healed up pretty well, but she reasoned that she would still have to tell her friends the mugging lie. Her eye was much better, but there was still a sickly green/yellow color to the skin around it. Her finger was obviously still broken and her chest was still very sore, although the bruises had at least faded slightly. She looked at her face in the bathroom mirror. That damn split on her lip was just never going to heal, was it?

Sakura jumped as she heard a loud buzzing sound coming from beside her, only relaxing when she realized that it was her cell phone. "Hello?" she said into the phone, trying not to sound tired.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's ridiculously loud voice boomed through her cellphone.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura couldn't help but smile at her friend's antics. That blue eyed menace had more energy than a hyperactive four year old. Hell, he had more energy than _ten_ hyperactive four year olds.

"Are you still down to meet me for lunch today? Hehe," Naruto chuckled into the phone, barely containing his excitement to see his pink haired best friend.

"Of course, Naruto!" Sakura smiled, "oh, I guess I should probably mention, Ino is going to come with us."

"UGH, what?" Naruto groaned into the phone overdramatically.

"I know you two don't always get along, Naruto, but please, do this for me! I haven't seen either of you in so long and I miss you both so much!" Sakura barely controlled the whine in her voice. Naruto and Ino weren't exactly compatible, they could barely speak to each other without arguing.

There was silence on the line for a few seconds. "Fine," Naruto grumbled, "For _you_ , but I'm not going to enjoy spending time with that loudmouth-blonde freak."

"Naruto, do you realize that you pretty much just described yourself?"

"Aw, shut-up, Sakura-chan! I'll see you in a little bit!" Sakura heard a click and knew her friend had hung up. She smiled, she really was excited to see him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ino grumbled as she pulled a bright pink t-shirt over her head. Sakura had just texted her to let her know that Naruto would be going out to lunch with them. Ino couldn't stand that hyperactive knucklehead. But this was for Sakura, and she supposed this one time she could suck it up.

As she grabbed her purse to head out the door, Ino frowned. She had really been wanting to confront Sakura about Sasuke, but she didn't feel like she could with Naruto around. Ino knew that Naruto absolutely _hated_ Sasuke, and conversation often got heated when his name was brought up. If Ino voiced her concerns in front of Naruto…well she wasn't sure Sasuke would live to see another day. Naruto may be an annoying doofus, but Ino couldn't deny that he was pretty badass. He was top ranked at the city's most prestigious dojo, called quite simply Konoha Dojo. Naruto's skills as a fighter were intimidating to say the least, and Ino had no doubt that he could kick Sasuke's sorry ass, if necessary.

Walking out the door, Ino's thought drifted to Sasuke. She hadn't seen him in _months_ , which worried her all the more. He used to come out with Sakura all the time, the two were rarely seen apart. He had always seemed a little controlling, but nothing that had ever been over the top. However, several months ago, Sasuke had stopped coming around. Sakura started showing up to parties and gatherings alone, saying Sasuke hadn't felt like coming. Shortly after that, the random "accidental" injuries started. Sakura almost _always_ had a suspicious bump, scrape, or bruise, and she _always_ had some bullshit excuse that blamed her own clumsiness. Ino knew the signs. Boyfriend suddenly reclusive and angst-y? Injuries that practically _screamed_ "hey, someone is hitting me!"? She was so scared for Sakura. But how do you just go up to a girl and say: "hey, is your boyfriend beating you?" Ino grimaced. She was always the first one to speak her mind and she never had trouble saying what need to be said, but this was _so_ different. Sakura was always so _goddamned_ happy that it was almost hard to doubt her when she told you that crushed her own fingers in the door.

This had to stop, and Ino knew it. Maybe she would just have to do this in front of Naruto. Her friend's safety could be in danger, and it was time she made a move to protect the pink haired beauty. Nodding to herself in resolution, Ino turned the keys in the ignition and pulled out of her driveway, headed to confront her friend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ino arrived to see Sakura already sitting at a table, patiently waiting. The girl was adorned in overly-bright colors – as usual. She had a bright green long sleeve shirt on that matched her spring green eyes perfectly. Her jeans were a soft blue and her shoes were covered in pink and green flowers. If springtime was a person, it was Sakura.

Ino approached the table with determination. She had already noticed that Sakura looked a little worse for the wear, _again_. "Sakura," she said boldly upon reaching the table, "I want to talk about all these bogus injuries you've had lately, I'm not stupid, and we need to talk about this right –"

"Sakura-chan!"  
Sakura was nearly tackled to the ground by an overly-enthused Uzamaki Naruto. She winced and tried to avoid crying out as the pain in her chest nearly killed her. She grimaced as she realized Ino had noticed and was watching her with fiery, angry eyes. Sakura sent her a silent plea that she hoped clearly said _"not in front of Naruto."_ She prayed Ino would understand; if Naruto was even given the smallest suspicion that Sasuke was hurting her, he would quite possibly kill him.

Ino looked annoyed, but she gave Sakura a slight nod that eased the weight on the green eyed girl's shoulders. She was safe…for now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Temari scowled angrily as she searched the internet for any trace of Haruno Sakura. This girl didn't have any social media? Seriously? Temari had been doing some research online, and had discovered that isolation was a warning sign of abuse. Could it be possible that Sakura's boyfriend didn't _allow_ her to have social media? This thought troubled Temari greatly. She had often prided herself on being a tough woman, not overly-sensitive and always doing what was necessary to get the job done. But this poor pink haired darling was distressing her quite a bit. Temari _hated_ injustice, and to her, abuse was one of the cruelest injustices that existed. She had seen abuse with her own eyes, more often than she cared to admit, and it still haunted her…And so Temari had resolved that she would do what was necessary to help Sakura.

"What are you doing here? It's Saturday," the ever-monotone voice asked from her door.

Temari's head shot up, slightly startled by the unexpected words. "I could ask you the same question, Gaara," she responded coolly, seeing her redheaded brother leaning casually on her doorframe.

"I just thought I'd get some extra work done, I let some things slip through the cracks this week," Gaara said slowly. "I wasn't able to focus."

Temari smiled wickedly. "Did it have anything to do with the pretty little something sitting outside your office?"

Gaara blushed, he actually _blushed_ and Temari couldn't believe her eyes. This was hilarious. "No," he snapped at her, "well actually, yes. But not for the reason you wish. She's so annoying. Constantly, asking, 'what can I do, what can I do, what can I do?' and 'thank you, Sabaku-san' or 'I can do that for you, Sabaku-san' on and on."

"You can tell her she doesn't have to call you that, you know," Temari looked at him skeptically. She herself was never one for constant formality.

Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "You're completely missing the point."  
Deciding to change the subject, albeit slightly, Temari said, "I've been trying to find her online for the past hour, and it's like she barely exists. The only things I've found have been from when she was in high school. So far, all I have to go on is that she was valedictorian and she built some amazing computer and won at a really prestigious science fair when she was in the eighth grade."

"So she's like some genius or something?" Gaara said, feeling slightly more interested. But only _slightly_.

"I guess so, I have no idea why she's not in school. Seems like she would've been the type to go to a university," Temari had thought about this more than once.

"Eh," Gaara shrugged nonchalantly, "she seems a little goofy to me. Nothing overly special there." His words made him feel a bit guilty, he knew better than to judge a book by its cover; a good friend had taught him that.

"Gaara," Temari sighed sadly, "I know you, and I know how you are. But please, use your humanity for just a moment here. I don't care if you like that girl or not, but she is a human being, a teeny-tiny human being at that, and quite possibly the man she loves is beating her so badly that she has to go around telling people she was mugged. Take two seconds and think about what kind of person it would take to hit a girl like Sakura. She's so sweet, it's sick."

Gaara scowled. He knew that his sister was right. Imagining a man hitting a tiny woman like Sakura made him sick to his stomach.

"I'm not asking you to help me," Temari explained. "I'm just asking you to give the girl a break. If she asks you for something to do, just give her some damn papers to sort. Give her a sense of purpose."

Gaara scowled even more. "Fine," he deadpanned.

Temari smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto scarfed down his oversized portion of lunch and Sakura couldn't help but smile. She had gone to school with Naruto, and in those days, he had annoyed her relentlessly. She remembered that he had had a massive crush on her until they were about sixteen years old. It was then that Naruto had met Hinata – he forgot about his love for Sakura fairly quickly after that. That had been fine by Sakura, after all, she had always had her eye on the broody, dark-haired Uchiha Sasuke…

"Earth to Sakura!" Ino's shrill voice brought Sakura flying out of her memories.

"Sorry," Sakura smiled. "I was just being nostalgic."

"Whatever," Ino rolled her eyes playfully. "How has your job been? Has your boss gotten any better? Is he –?"

"Sakura," the girls were interrupted by a suddenly serious Naruto. "What happened to your eye? And your finger? And come to think of it, are you favoring your side?"

Sakura swallowed. Looking at Ino, silently requesting back-up, she said, "I got mugged on my way home from work a few nights ago. It really wasn't a big deal."

Apparently, Ino had ignored Sakura's silent plea. "You were _what_?!" Ino cried in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Naruto stood up, nearly knocking the table over. "Who was it? I'm gonna go beat the shit outta that guy! Believe it!"

"Calm down, Naruto," Sakura begged, in a desperate attempt to smooth the situation over. "I talked to the police," Sakura lied, "but I didn't see his face and there was no way to track him. There's nothing you can do, but it's okay! I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys but I knew that you'd both be worried sick."

Ino frowned, deciding to trek into dangerous territory. "Sakura, why don't you ever just drive yourself places? Sasuke can't be using the car all the time."

Sakura's face reddened, she knew that Ino was trying to trap her. "It actually hasn't been working very well lately, Sasuke's actually gone trying to get it fixed right now." Her lies were beginning to make her feel _very_ guilty. These people were her friends and they wanted to help her, and here she was, lying through her teeth. She felt hopeless.

"Fine," Naruto grumbled, "I'll forgive you, but if _anything_ like this happens again and you don't tell me, there _will_ be hell to pay."

"Agreed," Sakura nodded solemnly, every bob of her head reminding her that she was a liar.

Naruto's face brightened quickly. "Oh! I forgot to tell you girls something. I proposed to Hinata yesterday!"

Grateful for the change in subject, Sakura clapped her hands excitedly. "Naruto! You didn't even tell me you were proposing! She said yes, right?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head amiably. "Hehe, oh she said yes alright! All night long –"

"Gross, cut it out, Naruto!" Sakura stuck her tongue out at the man.

"Baka," Ino mumbled, obviously still annoyed from the previous conversation.

"Who you callin' baka?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the offending girl. Why had Sakura even brought that dope along? She was just _annoying_.

"Alright, quit you two!" Sakura was genuinely excited. "Have you set a wedding date yet?"

"Hehe," Naruto began characteristically, "well, that's the fun part. We're getting married in a little over three months."

"A month?!" The girl in Sakura's head did a frantic dance inside her thought bubble. _What was he thinking?_

"Well, ya know, we're just too excited!" Naruto was practically giggling with joy. Sakura smiled widely, truly thrilled to see Naruto so happy. A part of her own heart ached as she realized Sasuke would never be this excited to marry her. He'd probably never marry her at all.

Shaking her head to clear her negative thoughts, Sakura reached over to squeeze Naruto's hand. "If you two need any help with anything at all, please let me know! I'd love to do something to help you guys out."

"I'll let Hinata get in touch with you about that," Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I'm not so good with all that planning stuff."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde boy. "Naruto, sometimes I swear you haven't changed a bit since we were twelve."

"Why would I need to change? Hehe," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I'm already the coolest guy that you know! Huh, Sakura?"

"Sure thing, Naruto," Sakura couldn't help but smile. "Sure thing."

"You two are making my food taste bad," Ino scowled.

The blonde's angry words were met with a chorus of happy laughter.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Temari couldn't believe he eyes, could she really be so lucky? Could it really be Haruno Sakura, walking out of a restaurant with two _friends_? Attempting to hide from Sakura but still keeping close enough to follow, Temari prayed that one of the pink haired girl's friends would branch off alone.

Suddenly, the blonde man she was with grabbed Sakura's hand, pulling her into a shop on the side of the road, leaving the other girl with them alone on the sidewalk. This was Temari's chance!

Running over to the side of the building so as not to be seen by Sakura through the window, she whisper-shouted, "Hey! You with the blonde hair!"

Sakura's friend snapped her head in Temari's direction. "What?"

Temari motioned for her to come closer. "It's about Sakura! I think she needs help," Temari clarified.

The friend immediately sprung over to where Temari was standing. "Do you think Sasuke is hitting her too?"

Ino was tired of beating around the bush, and so her question just fell right out. She immediately regretted it, she had no idea who this woman was and she might've just told Sakura's biggest secret. "I'm Ino, by the way." There was nothing she could do to take back her words now, and so she decided she might as well introduce herself.

Temari stretched out her arm, "Temari. And yes, Ino. That's exactly what I think."

Ino looked around conspiratorially. "Sakura is _mega_ secretive, but I might get her to crack soon. I almost got her today." _Except stupid old Naruto got in the way._

Temari reached into her purse, hunting for her business card. "There," she handed one of the cards to Ino, "that has my cell number on it. Text me later on today, would you be able to meet with me this evening?"

"Absolutely," Ino nodded vehemently. "Wait, how do _you_ know Sakura?" Ino hadn't considered this before; she was making plans with a total stranger to talk about the intimate details of her best friend's life and she had no idea who she was even talking to.

"Oh, I actually just hired her to be my little brother's assistant," Temari said nonchalantly, "at Sabaku Inc."

Ino's jaw dropped. "Oh my god, I'm so slow. You're Temari _Sabaku_ …wow, sorry, I just didn't realize I was in the presence of a celebrity. I guess I should've recognized you, I've seen your face on the cover of about a thousand magazines."

Temari laughed good-naturedly. "No worries there, I'm just –"

Temari immediately turned around and started walking away. Ino frowned and was about to call after her when she suddenly realized why the woman had left so abruptly. Sakura and Naruto were now walking out of the Karate supply store that the blonde boy had insisted on visiting. "Isn't it cool, Sakura?" Naruto was babbling on about something or another.

Ino quickly turned away from Temari, she didn't want to raise Sakura's suspicion. "Are you dorks quite finished?"

"Hey!" Naruto folded his arms. "You're the dork, _dork_."

Sakura sighed, looking at her watch briefly. "I can't take you two anywhere, can I?"

"Oh shoot!" Naruto called out, "I gotta go guys, I just remembered that I'm supposed to be meeting Hinata, hehe! I'll call you tomorrow Sakura!" The blonde haired boy immediately began jogging away, but Sakura was unfazed by his energy. She sure as hell was used to it by now.

Ino spun on her with ridiculous speed. "We need to talk."

"Ino I –" Sakura tried to speak.

"We need to talk about Sasuke."

Sakura felt herself pale. "Oh my god, _Sasuke_." Sakura remembered that he didn't know she was gone and that he could be back at any time. "Ino, I really have to get home." She tried to cover up her "pale" moment with calm words.

"Are you serious? You're not just walking away from me here, Sakura. I'm freaking out for you. Just tell me straight: is he hurting you?"

Sakura schooled her features into a surprised gasp. "Like hitting me? Oh god no. He's been having some anger issues lately, if I'm being honest. He's been yelling a lot and he gets mad when I'm not home in time, but we're working through it."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Oh _please_ , Sakura! Do I look stupid? I haven't even seen Sasuke in months. All of a sudden you're not driving the car and you're always showing up with new bumps and scrapes and stupid excuses to go with them!"

Sakura began to get frustrated. She didn't have time for Ino's nosiness right now! "Are you calling me a liar?"

"I'm calling you scared. Sakura, I get it. I'm sure you're confused and scared and I'm sure you have no idea what to do, but let me help you. I completely understand-"

"Stop saying that you understand!" Sakura's heart was racing. "You have no idea what you're talking about!" The pink haired girl stormed away from her friend, wanting nothing more than to spill her guts and tell Ino everything. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't because Sasuke would be so _angry_. She couldn't because that would mean the end of her relationship and she hadn't even decided if that's what she wanted yet.

"Sakura, wait!" she heard Ino yell, but she didn't turn around.

"Ino, just trust me! I'll call you tomorrow!" Sakura yelled over her shoulder, needing to get away.

Ino yelled something else, but Sakura couldn't hear her anymore.

She was too far away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"When I confronted her about it, she literally _ran_ away," Ino sighed, swirling the creamer around in her hot cup of coffee.

"Well that's definitely not a good sign," Temari set her mouth into a hard line. "Sounds like we're going to have to be really subtle about this. How much do you know about her boyfriend?"

"Plenty," Ino replied, "I went to school with Sakura and Sasuke. When we were kids, Sakura and I were both absolutely obsessed with him, along with most of the other girls our age. I didn't realize it until I got older, but Sasuke has always been a completely self-obsessed jerk. His family is mega rich, but he had some massive falling out with them a little while ago."

"Do you think that he could actually hurt Sakura?" Temari asked carefully.

Ino sighed. "I never would've thought that he could, but now…They've been together for five years, and I've never seen Sakura like this before. Honestly, I'm embarrassed that I've waited so long to really look into this. It's just so personal…even though she's my best friend, I don't know how to just walk up to her and say, 'hey, is Sasuke abusing you?'"

"I definitely think that we're going to have to be subtle about this," Temari mused. "Has she always been timid?"

"Absolutely not," Ino shook her head quickly. "Sakura used to be much more…gutsy. She definitely has her shy moments, but around her friends she was stubborn and hard-headed. She's always been crushingly optimistic but other than that, her personality has changed quite a bit. Her recent submissiveness is another indicator that has me worried. She's normally so…just Sakura."

"Well, one thing I can do at least is to try to make her work life a little easier. I'll really crack down on Gaara and make sure he's nice to her," Temari said determinedly. She really meant that, Gaara _would_ lighten up.

Ino couldn't help but laugh a little bit at that.

"What?" Temari asked, confused.

"Well," said Ino, leaning forward and looking around secretively. "I probably shouldn't mention this, but Sakura knows I can't keep a secret, so what the hell. I think our pink haired beauty might have a little crush on your brother. Not that she's said anything to me, but she _has_ told me that she thinks he's attractive _and_ she blushes to her toes whenever she mentions him."

"Really?" Temari let the word drag out, sitting back in her seat slightly. "Well that certainly is interesting. Gaara has been acting a little strange as well, although I'm not quite sure what it is yet. I think it's safe to say he either likes her or hates her, but I'm positive that he himself has no idea what he's feeling."

"So, anyway," Ino said, circling the conversation back around to Sakura. "What do you think we should do? We need to be subtle but we also need to do something _soon_. If Sakura is being abused, we have to get her out of there as soon as humanly possible."

"Agreed," Temari nodded. "Is there anyone else we should include in this?

Ino sighed, "I should probably give Naruto a call, I guess he deserves to know about this. He loves Sakura like a sister and he'd do anything for her." Ino pulled out her cell phone.

Upon hearing the name, something clicked in Temari's head. "Naruto!" she exclaimed suddenly. "That's the guy you two were with? I was too far away to see him clearly!"

Ino frowned. "You know Naruto?"

"He's only Gaara's best friend!" Temari explained. "That's crazy! Looks like Gaara and Sakura already have a connection."

"Maybe Naruto could help the two of them to get along, the guy has always been weirdly amazing at making friendships work," Ino admitted reluctantly.

Temari smiled widely, "Ino, that's a brilliant idea."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura was relieved to find that Sasuke still wasn't home. She wondered where the hell he had gone, he'd never been away for this long. Sakura couldn't help but wonder what he did when he took off like this. Did he visit friends? ' _Or is he cheating on you?'_ the voice in Sakura's head echoed. She shook the thought from her mind, no way. There was just no way! Was there?

As if in an answer to her question, Sasuke came stumbling through the front door.

"Sasuke, where have you been? I was starting to get worried!" Sakura jogged over to her boyfriend, not sure if she should be excited or fearful.

It was then that she smelled the perfume. Was she imagining things?

"Sasuke, who were you with?" Sakura felt a little bit of her old boldness seeping through. If Sasuke really thought he could go running around with some other woman, he was crazy. Cheating had always been Sakura's line.

"A friend," Sasuke snapped, attempting to walk around the small girl in front of him.

Sakura stepped to block his path, her heart beating wildly. _What the hell was she doing?_ She saw Sasuke start to grind his teeth. That was a bad sign.

"Sakura, _move_ ," Sasuke growled. "It's none of your business."

"Um, hi, my name's Sakura, I'm your girlfriend, _nice to fucking meet you_ ," Sakura stuck her hand out in defiance to him. Seeing her friends today had given her some strength, and she was using every ounce of it now.

"Karin," Sasuke smirked maliciously.

Sakura was taken aback. "W-what?"

"You asked me who I was with," Sasuke shrugged, "her name is Karin."

Sakura felt the tears spring to her eyes and she fought to control them. "You're just going to openly admit that you're cheating on me?"

"Come on, Sakura! What did you expect? You can't think that I'm going to confine myself to do. You're ridiculous, not to mention way too fucking skinny. You may need me Sakura, but I need much more than _you_. Now please, just leave me alone, I'm tired," Sasuke again tried to push past her.

"No," Sakura had no idea what she was doing, but she knew she would be paying for it.

"What?" Sasuke's eyes gleamed dangerously. Sakura swore his eyes looked almost red sometimes, like they could see everything.

"I've put up with a lot from you Sasuke, but I'm not putting up with this," Sakura fumed, "Promise me you'll stop seeing her."

Sasuke released a surprised laugh. "Or _what_ , Sakura? What will you do? _Leave me_? We both know that you won't do that."

Sakura bowed her head, defeat washing over her as it always did. What could she do? How could she even begin to leave him? Sasuke had been her life for so long; she relied on him and she didn't know why. He surely didn't give her a reason to. She felt him push past her roughly, knocking her into the end table.

Sakura didn't feel like she could move. Her feet were rooted to the spot, her mind whirling in endless circles around her head. _Sasuke. Cheating. Karin. Cheating._ The words bounced of the inside of her skull and got all jumbled up together. She could feel tears falling down her cheeks, but she did nothing to stop them. Sasuke was hurting her in a brand new way now. Her heart felt officially broken.

Sasuke made her go to bed with him that night. When he was finished, Sakura felt him tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know that I love you, Sakura," she felt his hot breath tickle her ear and she was assaulted with a mix of love and revulsion. "Do you love me?" he asked her, a hint of real softness in his voice.

"Of course I do."

* * *

 **Well, now we see that not only is Sasuke an abusive bastard, but he's a cheating bastard as well. Whatever will Sakura do?**

 **Could a certain redhead prove to be of some assistance? ;)**

 **If you wouldn't mind leaving me a review to tell me what you think so far, that'd be great 3 It really encourages me to write more if you guys like it!**


	4. FOUR

**Well, here's chapter 4! It's pretty long…probably like twice as long as chapter 3, I hope you don't mind ;) For those of you waiting for some Gaara/Sakura moments, you'll love this chapter; for those of you who are worried their relationship will move too fast/be unrealistic, worry not! I am doing my best to write their relationship realistically and despite the interactions in this chapter, their relationship won't be too rushed. At least I hope…**

 **I am incredibly busy this upcoming week with school, so I may not get chapter 5 up in a week, but I'm going to try really hard! I'm also in the process of beta-reading my sister-in-law's novel, so that's taking up some time as well.**

 **Anyway…without further ado…chapter 4!**

* * *

 _The other night dear, as I lay sleeping_

 _I dreamed I held you in my arms_

 _But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken_

 _So I hung my head and I cried…_

FOUR

Sakura's days had become long, and her nights were even longer. Sasuke had taken to asking her to sleep with him every night, and the girl reasoned this was his twisted way of feeling guilty for what he had done. He'd been much nicer in general, over the past few days, and Sakura had started to get suspicious. Did he have malicious intentions, or was he finally getting over whatever this crazy streak was? She desperately hoped for the latter.

She missed the old Sasuke fiercely. He'd always been headstrong and a little self-obsessed, but he'd never been abusive or mean to her. In those days, Sakura never doubted Sasuke's love for her; it was as real and constant to her as the sunrise was to the morning. These days, however, that sureness was gone. Sasuke had slept with someone else, confirming Sakura's greatest fear: that she wasn't enough.

Work was moving slowly today, and her thoughts were engulfing her as she sat at her desk. Every moment that she wasn't with Sasuke, she couldn't help but wonder where he was and what he was doing. She couldn't help but wonder _who he was with._ She was plagued by thoughts of 'Karin', and she couldn't help but wonder what she looked like. Sakura didn't think of herself as a beauty by any means, but she thought she was at least pretty enough to keep Sasuke's attention. Apparently, she had been wrong. She considered trying to look Karin up on the internet, but she quickly decided that she didn't even want to see her. She was too afraid that she would be beautiful.

She wasn't sure if Sasuke was even seeing the other woman anymore; he hadn't spoken of her since their fight about it, and he seemed to be home every day. Sakura desperately wanted to ask him, but she was too scared to set him off since he had been so calm lately. She cursed herself and her current situation. How could she let her life get this way? She was Sakura, not some wishy-washy little pushover.

Except she _was_. That was exactly what Sakura had become, and she knew it. This fact made her hate herself even more, she had become so horribly weak and she couldn't stand it. Since when did she let someone else walk all over her?

" _The Great Gatsby_ , huh?" a distinctive voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"Hm?" Sakura looked up, meeting red hair and green eyes with her gaze. "Oh, yes. Sorry, I forgot I had my book sitting here." Sakura glanced over at her well-loved little paperback novel.

The man shrugged. "I used to really like that book. What do you think?"

Sakura was thrown off guard. He had never initiated a casual conversation like this before. "I, uh- yeah I do actually, it's so subtle and sad and I just think the writing is absolutely beautiful. That book has some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read! What do you think, Sabaku-san?"

"You can just call me Gaara, I'm not big on formalities," her boss said, looking anywhere but her face. "If that's alright."

"Oh, sure," Sakura tried to restrain a giggle, she couldn't believe how awkward this guy was sometimes. It was like human interaction was a foreign subject for him and he was just now feeling things out.

Gaara nodded. "Good. Anyways, I agree. The wording really is beautiful." He couldn't believe what he was saying. _What was he saying?_ Was he seriously standing here talking to her about beautiful book sentences? He internally groaned. She was probably really freaked out by him.

"I had no idea you were so insightful about books!" Sakura's eyes had lit up and he was surprised to see how excited she had gotten. She must really be into reading. "Have you always liked to read?"

"Uh," Gaara began, feeling like he sounded like an idiot, "I suppose so. I was kind of a loner as a kid, and reading was what I did with my time. I guess I never really grew out of it,"

"Me too!" the pink haired girl exclaimed, practically bouncing in her seat. Gaara was tempted to smile at her antics but he chose not to. "My parents used to have to hide my books from me so that I would spend some time with them occasionally. I was ridiculous!"

"Wow, it sounds like you really were obsessed with books," Gaara couldn't keep a small chuckle from escaping his lips. This girl was certainly a piece of work.

"Oh, yes, I think they're wonderful," Sakura's eyes lit up, and Gaara was again dumbfounded by this girl's ridiculous cheeriness. "I just really love to read, honestly. I'm not very picky when it comes to great works of literature, I'll give anything a chance."

Gaara tried to hide his interest. He'd never met a girl like this one before, she seemed even smarter than he was and not at all prideful about it. She spoke of her interests like they were the most exciting things in the world, and he wondered how she could ever manage to be so fond of something. She had starting talking about books again, and he took in her appearance as she spoke. Her pink hair was pushed back by a bright green headband that matched her eyes almost perfectly, and her dress was a slightly lighter shade of green. He was just noticing how beautiful she was, her eyes all lit up talking about something she loved. She had freckles on her nose that he hadn't noticed before, they traveled out across her cheeks slightly, like little irregular paint spatters. They were almost too faint to see.

"Don't you think?" Sakura was saying, and he realized he hadn't been listening. "Sorry, I'm probably boring you and I'm sure you have work to do." She blushed.

"Oh, no, not at all," Gaara said, feeling guilty for completely missing what she had said. Why couldn't he just have a normal conversation with her? "What were you saying?"

Just as Sakura was about to speak, the phone rang and interrupted her. "Sabaku Gaara's line, how may I help you?" Sakura asked into the receiver, a little miffed that her conversation had been cut short. She had been enjoying talking to Gaara. She had never seen this side of him before and she was very interested to see how this conversation would play out.

The man on the other line was gruff, "I need to speak with him."  
"May I ask who is calling?" Sakura asked, as she was supposed to. Gaara didn't like to be bothered by calls he didn't need to take, and so she was always to ask who was calling.

"I said I need to speak with him! Don't be a nosy bitch and just transfer my call to him, immediately!" the man barked into the receiver.

"Are you okay, Sakura-san?" Gaara noticed the girl's face get paler as she listened to the caller's response.

"Please hold," he heard the pink haired girl say.

"Firstly, please call me Sakura. Secondly, yes, I'm alright, the man on the phone wishes to speak with you but declined to give his name," Sakura explained, but her voice had changed so drastically, Gaara barely took in her words. He found himself suddenly consumed with worry for the girl sitting before him. _What the hell is going on?_ Gaara tried to shake the feeling but it wouldn't budge from the bottom of his gut.

"Alright," Gaara replied coolly, "I'll go pick up the phone in my office."

Sakura simply nodded in response and immediately looked away from him, a far off look in her eyes. He didn't take his eyes off of her until his closing office door separated her from his view.

Sakura looked up once the door had shut, trying to compose herself. She had become such a pitiful baby. That man yelling at her and calling her a name would have made old Sakura furious; old Sakura would've given him the what-for and demanded some respect. But Sakura wasn't like that anymore. After relentless belittling from Sasuke, not to mention the physical abuse, she felt as though she were only a shell of herself before. All of her self-confidence had essentially been wiped away, and she had no idea how to recover it. She felt absolutely pathetic.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara figured out what had upset Sakura as soon as he picked up his phone. It was a man from a partner of the company, a man Gaara knew to be a self-righteous, sexist asshole. The man informed him that "that secretary girl" seemed like a real dumb bitch and that she had been very rude with him on the phone. It took all that Gaara had to not tell the man that he had heard Sakura speak to him and that he knew he was lying…but this man was a high ranking individual in the partner company and it could cause problems if Gaara offended him. Instead of telling him off, he apologized to the angry man and was eventually able to get him to forget about it.

Sakura sat outside the office, unsure why she had been so upset by the man's comment. Sasuke called her names almost daily, she was used to it. She reasoned that it may have been because she wasn't used to other people calling her names. It was almost like when someone else called her a name, they were validating all the horrible things Sasuke said and did to her. It was somehow making it real. She grimaced at her own stupidity. She hated how weak she had become. She desperately wished that she could turn to Sasuke for comfort.

Sakura stood from her desk with the intent of going to the restroom. She stretched her arms and legs, a little stiff from the hours of sitting at her desk. Just as she was about to walk away from her desk, a little ding from her computer grabbed her attention. Knowing that is was an email, Sakura quickly sat back down to check it. It was from Gaara.

The subject was "Sorry" and it read:

"Sorry about that man on the phone, I can only assume that he was rude to you. I urge you to not take anything he said seriously. He's a dick.

Gaara"

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She thought it was very thoughtful of Gaara to email her and tell her not to worry. All of a sudden, the weight that she had been feeling was removed from her shoulders and the comfort she felt at his words was wonderful. How could she have been so upset by that guy on the phone, anyway? After all, Gaara had said that he was a dick.

Smiling, Sakura typed a response to the email:

"Thank you, Gaara. Yes, he was a little rude, but it's nothing I can't handle. I appreciate your email

Sakura"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara had no idea what he was doing. Emailing Sakura to tell her he was sorry? Feeling _sorry_ in the first place? He was really going soft. He partially blamed Naruto for that. Ever since they had become friends, Gaara hadn't been able to look at the world in the same way. He was no longer able to look at other people without feeling anything…suddenly people had become real, with real feelings and real ideas. He could no longer block everyone else out. Naruto had opened up a gate in his heart and he couldn't seem to get it closed again, and he was starting to feel that the girl sitting outside his office was only pushing it open further.

His mind wandered back to the day that Sakura had come in looking all beat up, and a newfound anger surged through his veins. How could someone do something like that to her? She was so…innocent. Her pretty pink hair and bright green eyes were a physical representation of her overly optimistic personality.

Gaara had hated a lot of people in his life, and Sakura's boyfriend had made his list. Even though Naruto's influence had taught him to always give people a chance, Gaara was sure of the fact that the pink girl's lover didn't deserve one. He couldn't imagine what day-to-day life with him must be like for a girl as small as Sakura.

It was then that he decided that he would help Temari. He didn't like the guilt that he was feeling, and he decided he might as well try to do something to rid himself of it. If there was anything that was important to Gaara, it was his own comfort and the comfort of those around him.

Today, he'd do something.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura yawned. The clock told her that it was four minutes until five o'clock, and she frowned slightly. She wasn't ready to go home; she'd had a nice conversation with Gaara today, plus she'd had work to do for a large part of the day. She wasn't ready to go home to Sasuke. Part of her hoped he'd be gone, which she knew was a bad sign, but she chose to ignore it. If he was gone, he would probably be with Karin, and that would be _bad_ because cheating was _bad_.

"Do you want a ride home?"

Gaara's voice startled Sakura out of her thoughts. He wanted to give her a ride home? There was no way that she could say yes…Sasuke would freak! But then again, she didn't really want to walk, it sounded like it might be raining outside.

"Uh, earth to Sakura?" Gaara waved his hand in front of his face. "You there?"

"Oh! Sorry, Gaara, I was zoned out," Sakura replied sheepishly, "uh, that's okay. I don't mind walking and I probably live in the opposite direction of you."

"Nonsense," Gaara said quickly, "it's raining cats and dogs out there Sakura. Just let me give you a ride, I don't mind."

Sakura looked away from his eyes, not thinking of the implications when she said: "I really shouldn't, Sasuke would kill me."

Sakura looked up to see Gaara's eyes had widened. "Not really!" the pink haired girl tried to laugh off her slip up. "He's just a little overly jealous and he'd probably freak out if he knew I let a male person give me a ride home. He's…insecure."

Gaara fought to keep from grinding his teeth. She had obviously slipped up by saying Sasuke would kill her, he could tell how serious that fear was by the look in her eyes. He didn't believe her for a second when she tried to take it back. "I'll drop you off a block away." He decided not to fight her on it, he really didn't want her to walk all the way home in the rain.

Sakura looked up at him, and he saw a swirl of fear and gratitude in her green eyes. "I guess that would be…alright. If it's not too much trouble."

"I'm the one who offered, Sakura, obviously it's not too much trouble," Gaara rolled his eyes slightly, not believing this girl's politeness.

"Well, okay then, thank you Gaara," Sakura smiled brilliantly at him and he momentarily lost his train of thought. He really needed to pull himself together.

The pair walked down the hallway together towards the elevator, not speaking, but immersed in a semi-comfortable silence. Sakura hadn't been very comfortable around men lately – except for Naruto, of course – and she was surprised at how at ease she felt walking beside her boss. He was several inches taller than her, but she didn't feel intimidated, even if he was a little foreboding at times. She smiled to herself upon this realization of comfort; finding comfort in her everyday surroundings gave her peace and a way to cope.

"What are you smiling about?" Gaara asked, again dragging Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Oh, nothing," Sakura said, feeling silly and giddy all at the same time. She didn't know what had gotten into her, but she was glad that Gaara had offered her a ride.

They came to the building's parking garage, and Gaara led her quickly over to his parking spot. His car was beautiful, but not exactly what she had been expecting. It was a small, black sports car. It wasn't flashy at all, it was very simple, and Sakura liked that. She had no idea what kind of car it was, she didn't know much about automobiles, but she did know that it looked _very_ expensive. She was suddenly incredibly self-conscious. She couldn't help but glance down at the slightly frayed hem of her skirt and the scuffed toes of her shoes; it was then that she realized that he'd see where she lived, and that scared her the most. Her neighborhood wasn't a nice one, that much was for sure, but it was all she could afford since Sasuke wasn't currently working and didn't make an effort to get any help from anyone but Sakura. She sighed.

"Alright?" Gaara asked, shifting his gaze over her way uncertainly.

Sakura brightened her expression immediately, "yes, of course. Your car is really pretty!"

Gaara put his hands in his pockets and looked uncomfortable with the compliment. " _Pretty_ isn't exactly what I was going for when I bought it," he joked, "but thank you."

"You're welcome," Sakura answered, failing to hide her chuckle at the man's awkwardness. She definitely got the sense that he wasn't used to talking very much.

The ride to her apartment had been much appreciated. As soon as they pulled out of the parking garage, Sakura realized just how hard it was raining. Sheets of rain poured down like it was being dumped from infinitely large buckets in the sky. Lightning flashed across the sky in brilliant streaks, and claps of thunder caused Sakura to jump unintentionally. Loud noises had been getting to her lately…she wasn't really sure why.

"You were actually going to walk in this?" Gaara asked eventually, breaking a several minute silence.

"Uh, yeah, I was planning on it. I don't really have a lot of options," Sakura tried to say lightheartedly. "It's really not so bad, when I remember my umbrella at least. And when it's nice out, I actually enjoy the walk."

"What about when it starts to get cold? It won't be June forever," Gaara's tone was skeptical.

Sakura silently cursed his inquisitiveness. "Maybe I'll be able to use the car then, I don't know."

Gaara simply made a noise in the back of his throat in response, and Sakura was glad that he seemed to have dropped the subject. She had no doubt that she would still be walking to work in the winter, but she had no intention of telling Gaara that. He seemed kind of on edge about the whole walking thing and she didn't want to push her luck.

"Turn right up here," Sakura motioned to the upcoming stop sign.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. He did _not_ like the part of town they were getting into. He was completely flabbergasted that her boyfriend let her walk around alone on these streets. Suddenly, her mugging lie didn't seem so improbable.

"You can pull over in that parking lot," Sakura said, pointing to an abandoned lot on the side of the road. "I'll walk the rest of the way."

"You're kidding me, right?" Gaara looked over at Sakura incredulously. "Sakura, it's still pouring, I really think I should just-"

"Gaara," Sakura's eyes were pleading, "Seriously. I wasn't kidding before about Sasuke getting…jealous. If he finds out I rode with you, he'll be mad. I really don't want an…argument tonight. Please."

Gaara had no idea what he should do. Surely he shouldn't pull over so that she could walk home in the pouring rain to a monstrous and abusive man? But the pleading look in her eyes did him in, and he did what she wished, albeit not happily.

"I don't see why I can't just take you, how would he even know?" Gaara grumbled, coming to a stop in the old lot.

"Because I wouldn't be wet and it's raining," Sakura answered simply. Gaara couldn't believe his ears. She actually had to get out of the car and get herself drenched on purpose so that Sasuke wouldn't know that a man had given her a ride home; he would rather his girlfriend be soaked in the pouring rain than to get a ride home from a man. Disgusting.

"How far are you from here?" Gaara asked, looking around at the dismal area.

"Not far, I just have to walk down to that intersection, turn right, and walk for a couple more minutes," Sakura explained, gathering her things to get out of the car. "Thank you Gaara, this was really nice of you." She smiled at him, and he felt the corners of his mouth raise maybe just a little before he controlled himself.

"No problem," he replied, trying to keep emotion out of his voice, "try to be careful the rest of the way." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Would you just…er, email me when you make it home? Just so I know you got there."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears; he was worried about her? "Sure, of course."

"Good," Gaara coughed, and averted his eyes from hers.

A strange urge grabbed Sakura and without thinking, she reached out and lightly touched Gaara's hand, which was laying on the center console. "Thanks again," she blushed at her boldness.

"Anytime," the redheaded man replied, and Sakura didn't doubt that he meant it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

His entire arm felt like it was on fire. The moment her skin had touched his, flames flew up his arm like a shockwave. Even now, ten minutes later as he was pulling up to his own apartment complex, he could still feel the keen sting of her skin on his. This was bad, very, very bad. Gaara hadn't had actual _feelings_ for a woman in years. Sure, he had a couple girlfriends here and there, but mostly they were just dates for important events and company on the weekends. Nothing special.

This was bad.

As he was stepping out of his car, he glanced over where she had been sitting and saw her book, _The Great Gatsby_ , sitting in the passenger seat. He picked up the fragile paperback gingerly, noticing that it looked like it had been read about a thousand times. The cover was nearly falling off and several of the pages weren't even attached to the binding anymore.

Upon walking in to his apartment, his thoughts immediately drifted to Sakura and the email she had promised him. Pulling his laptop out of his briefcase, he sank down onto his couch and turned on the computer. He swore it had never taken so long to boot up before. Growing impatient, he pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and decided to check his email that way. The app crashed four times before he could get it to open and he wondered if the universe was trying to punish him for something.

There.

"Hey Gaara, I made it home. Turns out you could've driven me all the way, my boyfriend isn't even home. That's just my kind of luck, I guess. Anyway, thanks, I really appreciate it

Sakura"

Relief washed over him, and he was again startled by the feelings he was having. He assumed it was just a crush, and prayed that it would be over soon. It couldn't be healthy to have a crush on a girl who was already dating someone, could it? _But she could break up with him…_

Gaara shook his head violently, trying without success to shake the stupid thoughts from his addled brain. He frowned deeply. There was nothing wrong with a little bit of healthy concern for his secretary, was there? Temari was worried about her, after all. He could definitely use that, he could just jump on Temari's bandwagon without raising too much suspicion. These feelings would pass, he assumed; they were probably only surfacing because he felt sorry for the girl, she obviously needed someone to protect her.

His fingers moved almost independently, he barely noticed he had been typing a reply until he was ready to send it.

"Sakura, I'm glad to hear it. Next time, just let me drive you all the way, okay?

Gaara

P.S. You left your book in my car, I can bring it to you tomorrow"

As he added on the "P.S." at the end, he realized that it was a silly attempt to continue the conversation. It's not like she would actually answer him back…but he sent it anyway.

Her reply was nearly immediate.

"Did I really? Shoot! Honestly, that thing is falling apart, I should probably buy a new copy anyway. I just can't bear to part with that old thing. Thanks, Gaara "

He had an idea, and smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Sakura had gotten home, Sasuke was nowhere to be found. She had shortly found a sloppily written note stuck to the kitchen counter. _"Sakura,"_ it read, _"I'm visiting a friend, I'll probably be gone a few days."_ Sakura frowned deeply. She assumed that by "friend" he meant Karin, and she wondered if this is how things would be from now on. Would he just disappear randomly, leaving her notes claiming that he was with a friend? Or did he actually intend for her to know that he was with Karin? How long would she be plagued by this other woman? The only upside during those few minutes had been Gaara's emails.

She wondered whether he would answer her most recent message, and she found herself hoping that he would. Things were kind of lonely around her apartment by herself, and she was enjoying the company of conversation. Her phone buzzed and she immediately jumped on it, hoping for another email from the redheaded man. She was only slightly disappointed when she saw that it was only a text from Ino.

"Wanna hang out? Movies, on me " the text read.

Sakura hesitated. Sasuke said he would be gone for a few days…so she should be safe to go. She replied to the message, "I'd love to 3 where are what time?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura was surprised that Ino didn't have a million accusing questions for her when she picked her up for the movie. Instead, her friend had simply invited her into the car, and chitchatted about girly things as she had always been so fond of doing. They saw a goofy romantic comedy of Ino's choosing and ate their weight in candy bars.

"That was dumb," Sakura rolled her eyes as they walked out of the theater.

"Hey! Don't hate on my movies, Forehead," Ino glared at her. "Now, we're going out to get a drink."

"A drink?" Sakura contemplated this. "I have to work in the morning, Ino, are you trying to kill me?"

"Come on Sakura! Just one drink," Ino whined, not giving Sakura the chance to refuse as she grabbed the pink haired girl's arm and practically dragged her down the sidewalk. "Just an hour and then I'll have you back home, I swear!"

"Ugh, fine! You're crazy, Ino," Sakura grimaced at the back of the blonde girl's head. There was no point arguing with Ino, it was impossible to win.

"It's just around the corner here," Ino motioned ahead of them, "it'll be faster to just walk over instead of going all the way back to the parking lot to get my car and driving."

As they turned the corner, Sakura saw where they were going. It was a cute little bar with flashing neon lights that read: "Kakashi's". Ino dragged her up to the entrance and through the front door. Sakura looked around at the interior of the bar, surprised at how clean it was. Most of the bars in the area were so gross she was afraid to touch anything, much less drink there; but this place was different. There was clean, black furniture arranged in a comfortable setting, and the bar stools lined up at the bar actually looked nice to sit on.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura was nearly bowled over by someone, and it took all of her strength to stay on her feet. "What're you doing here? Hehe!"

"Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked, still a little dazed from the violent hug she had just received. "Geez, it's like you're trying to tackle me!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned widely, scratching the back of his head good-naturedly. "I'm just excited to see you!"

Sakura rolled her eyes dramatically. "I guess I can forgive you. Anyway, I'm here because Ino absolutely _insisted_ and I knew there was no point in putting up a fight. So here I am."

Naruto looked over at Ino and acknowledged her with a sharp nod, which Ino returned quickly.

"Excuse me, did you two just greet each other or am I seeing things?" Sakura asked, a bit taken aback by her two friends' behavior.

"Come meet my friend!" Naruto said, completely ignoring her question. "He's right over here!"

Sakura felt herself being dragged again, this time by Naruto. His quick pace made her lose her balance and she tripped over the corner of a rug. She felt herself falling forward until she was caught by two strong arms gripping her own. She looked up, expecting Naruto, and was completely shocked when her eyes met a pair of jade green ones.

"Gaara?"

"Sakura?" was his reply, "are you ok?"

"Yeah," Sakura said, straightening herself up as Gaara's hands fell from her arms. She found that she missed the contact immediately. "Sorry, Naruto here thinks it's a good idea to tackle me _and_ drag me over furniture all in the same night."

"Hey!" Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "How do you two know each other, anyway?"

"I actually work for him," Sakura frowned, "how do _you_ two know each other?"

"Gaara's only my best friend! Oh, well besides you, of course, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned at her. "I figured I would've mentioned you to each other by now but I guess not."

Ino smiled as she watched Sakura interact with the two men. She hadn't missed the way that Gaara was looking at Sakura, a mix of concern and interest in his eyes. Temari had definitely been right, it seemed like there was something going on, at least on Gaara's end. "Can we sit with you guys?" Ino asked.

Sakura looked at Ino open mouthed. "You want to sit with Naruto? What the hell is going on with you two?" She looked at Gaara to explain, "Usually they hate each other and I have to beg them to hang out with me at the same time."

"We might as well," Ino shrugged, "we're all here and I know that you're going to want to sit with him anyway, so I just made the decision easier."

"Hehe!" Naruto was practically bouncing around with glee. "Come over here, Sakura! I want to tell you about me and Hinata's wedding plans!"

Gaara felt like an idiot, but he couldn't stop looking at Sakura. He followed Naruto and the girls to a table, desperately attempting to look anywhere but the pretty little figure of the girl in front of him. Her pink hair fell loosely around her face, not quite long enough to touch her shoulders, and she was wearing casual clothes: loose green shorts with a white shirt. He could definitely tell this girl was a fan of green, almost every outfit she wore included the color. It suited her.

He sat at their table just staring at her, he hoped discreetly, tuning out Naruto's endless babble about the wedding and about a thousand other things. He only started to pay attention to the hyperactive blonde when he heard his name mentioned.

"Gaara here is gonna be my best man!" Naruto said proudly, patting Gaara on the back soundly. Gaara tried his best to look uninterested.

"Who else is going to be in your wedding, Naruto?" Sakura asked, smiling slightly, and Gaara felt like she was making fun of him somehow.

"Neji, Shikamaru, Rock Lee-" Naruto began.

"ROCK LEE?" Sakura whined loudly, taking Gaara off guard. What was upsetting her?

"Ah, calm down, Sakura-chan! The guy means well and I promise I won't let him try to kiss you again," Naruto said, patting Sakura on the arm. "You can't really blame him for being totally in love with you, can you?"

 _"Ah, so that's it,"_ Gaara thought. _"This Lee guy has a thing for Sakura. I bet that pisses her boyfriend off."_

Sakura groaned. "It's not even that I mind that much, I don't dislike Lee, but Sasuke hates him. There's no way that they could even be in the same room! And there's also no way that Sasuke's going to let me go to your wedding alone knowing that Lee's going to be there."

"Sakura, can you please stop talking about Sasuke like he's your dad or something? He doesn't have to _let_ you go, you can just go," Ino said sharply.

Sakura knew that she was right, she had slipped up by saying that. She shouldn't be giving anyone the idea that Sasuke was controlling her. Ino was already nosy enough without giving her ammunition. "You're right, Ino. I'll just tell him to shove it, he probably won't come."

Relief washed over Gaara at her words. He didn't think he could stand to be in the same room as that guy for more than one reason. He was hoping to avoid Sasuke for as long as possible; in fact, he hoped to avoid him forever.

"Ino!" Sakura whined suddenly, "it's almost midnight! I told you that this was a bad idea. I've got to work tomorrow."

"We all do Sakura, don't be a baby," Ino laughed at her friend.

"Yeah well not all of you have to get up extra early so you have time to walk," Sakura grumbled at her friend, making a childish face at her.

"Oh, don't even get me started on that, Sakura! That car is literally yours, Sasuke can't always have it, you know. Tell him you want to use it for once!" Ino rolled her eyes.

"Maybe I will!" Sakura said intensely, meanwhile her brain was saying: _"Not a fucking chance."_

"Alright, well if you insist, we can go," Ino winked at Sakura. "I'm tired anyway."

"Ugh, fine, party poopers," Naruto complained loudly.

As the group walked out of the establishment, Naruto called over to the man behind the bar, "See ya later, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura looked behind her to see the silver haired man simply waved at Naruto absentmindedly, obvious engrossed in some paperback novel he was reading. The cover of the book certainly looked…risqué. "Sensei?" she asked Naruto.

"Oh, yeah! That guys been training me in the dojo since I was a kid," Naruto explained. "He's a real loser sometimes but he's still awesome in his own way."

Sakura hugged Naruto goodbye, and was about to turn to leave with Ino, when she was startled by a hand lightly touching her arm. She looked up and locked eyes with Gaara.

"I still have your book, if you just want to take it now," he said, sounding slightly awkward as he removed his hand from her bare arm.

"Oh! Sure, that'd be good," Sakura said, a little excited to have a few minutes to be with Gaara, for some reason. She had really been enjoying his company all day.

Upon realizing Gaara's car and Ino's car were essentially in opposite directions, Gaara offered to just drive Sakura home again.

On their walk over to his car, Sakura felt her phone buzzing wildly in her pocket. She checked the screen to see a barrage of text messages from Ino. All of them asked questions about why Sakura's book was in Gaara's car, when had he given her a ride before, and the final text was a demand that Sakura call her as soon as she got home. Sakura smiled at her friend's curiosity.

"What?" Gaara asked her. "Is something funny?"

Sakura laughed. "Just Ino being stupid, it's nothing. Anyway, thanks for driving me home. Honestly, I can just get my book from you and walk if it's too much trouble, I'm not far from here."

"You can't be serious," Gaara deadpanned. "Drop it, Sakura. You're not walking."

Sakura tried to hide the smile that begged to stretch her lips. That split had finally started to heal and she would be damned if she burst it open again from too much smiling. She could already feel it starting to get sore again and that wasn't a good sign. "Alright, fine. But I'm not letting you go out of your way to give me any more rides for a while, got it?"

"I think you're forgetting which one of us is the boss in this situation," Gaara said smugly.

Sakura blushed. Here she was, completely sassing her boss as he was about to give her a ride home. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Sakura, I'm just kidding," Gaara was looking down at her, the tiniest little smile curving his lips, and she realized he really was just messing with her.

"You shouldn't tease me," Sakura joked, "I'm sensitive, you know!"

Gaara opened the passenger door for her, "Sorry, by agreeing to work for me you also agreed to suffer the teasing. You're out of luck."

The ride back to her apartment was pleasant, although Sakura couldn't help but feel a little guilty that Gaara had driven her home twice. She was sure that he lived nowhere near her apartment and she felt bad that he was going out of his way for her, she figured it was pretty annoying for him.

"I really am sorry to give you trouble," Sakura said sheepishly, "I don't want you to have to keep going out of your way like this."

"Sakura, if you apologize one more time, I might just have to fire you," Gaara said seriously.

Sakura's eyes widened and she felt her face go pale. If she lost her job, she would have no money to pay rent. She and Sasuke would get kicked out, and he'd hate her even more. They'd live on the street and-

"Sakura," Gaara said, concern on his face, "I was kidding. You're not so good picking up jokes, are you?"

"Me? It's not me that's the problem," Sakura whined, "It's the fact that everything you say sounds completely serious! Maybe try using more than one tone of voice for a change!"

Gaara snorted. "Well I'd certainly think you would at least understand that I obviously wouldn't fire you. As a matter of fact-"

Sakura interrupted him. "Oh shit."

Gaara looked over at his pink-haired companion and saw her face painted with fear. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates and her face was as white as a ghost. She looked truly and utterly terrified.

"What's the matter?" he asked her, worry thick in his voice. Sakura swallowed audibly and he waited impatiently for her to speak.

The girl was obviously trying to pull herself together but Gaara didn't miss the tremor in her voice when she said: "Sasuke is home. He said he'd be gone for a few days, I didn't think he'd be back tonight. But the car is here, so he must be here. Oh my god and it's almost one in the morning!"

Gaara didn't like the fear in her voice _at all_. He wondered how bad it was going to be for Sakura, and suddenly he didn't think he could let her out of the car. "Sakura, you don't have to go inside. You don't have to go home to him tonight."

"No, no I have to, it wouldn't be a good thing if I put this off," Sakura was visibly trembling now. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. He might be a little mad but he'll just yell a little bit and throw a fit. Thanks for the ride, see you in the morning!"

Before Gaara could formulate a reply, Sakura had dashed out the door and started running towards the door of her apartment building. Panic welled up in Gaara's throat and he seriously considered going after her. How could he just let her run in there to him? Letting his head fall against the steering wheel, Gaara knew he wouldn't get any sleep that night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As soon as Sakura set foot in her apartment, she wished she had never gotten out of the car. She was greeted by a solid smack to the face, and she immediately felt blood dripping out of that goddamn split on her lip. _That_ pissed her off.

"Sasuke, what the fuck? Leave me alone! You weren't even supposed to be here tonight!" Sakura grit her teeth.

"Well I am here," Sasuke slurred his words and Sakura quickly realized that he was absolutely wasted. "And you weren't and I'd like to know who you were with until one in the fucking morning."

Sakura growled and spit sarcastically. "I was with a _friend_."

Sasuke roared with absolute fury. Luckily for Sakura, Sasuke was sloppy when he was drunk and missed a lot of his punches. Sakura was able to dodge most of what he threw at her, and she knew she just had to keep her face safe so that she wouldn't get questioned at work tomorrow. If she could just tire him out before he could do any damage…

Her arms had taken quite a beating. The outside edges of her forearms were throbbing with pain from blocking so many blows and she didn't think she could take much more. Just as she thought he was starting to wear out, Sasuke surprised her and kicked her in the knee. She cried out in pain and fell over in the fetal position, clutching her injured knee. She was unable to quiet her sobs.

"Shut-up!" Sasuke growled, giving her a swift kick to the ribs. "Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up!"

Sakura did her best to quiet herself, and when she stopped her cries, Sasuke stopped his assault. She heard his footsteps grow quiet and the bedroom door slam shut. She opened her eyes slowly and breathed shallowly. She contemplated whether or not it was worth it to try and get up.

 _Ding!_

Sakura looked over at her cellphone, it was lying about five feet away from her on the floor. She reached for it feebly, her fingertips just centimeters away. Her vision began to grow dark, and she succumbed to the blackness.

* * *

 **Uh-oh! Things aren't looking so good for Sakura here…why didn't Gaara just follow her inside? Oh right, because I wrote that he didn't ;)**

 **I'll hopefully have chapter 5 up by next Sunday! Please leave me a review and let me know if you liked this chapter. I really liked it and I'd love to know what you thought!**


	5. FIVE

***sheepish* I know you all probably hate me, and I don't know if anyone is still reading this story, but I'M SORRY. I've just had two monumentally awful weeks. Like really bad. But now finals are over and I'm actually gonna be able to focus on writing. I hope this chapter is okay, it's a little slow but it's necessary. Get ready for some tension between Gaara and Sakura!**

 **Please forgive me, my little sunflowers! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **At least I'm posting on a Sunday…**

 **disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song "You Are My Sunshine"**

* * *

 _I'll always love you and make you happy,_

 _If you will only say the same._

 _But if you leave me and love another,_

 _You'll regret it all some day:_

FIVE

The sun was just rising as Sakura slowly blinked herself awake. She was still lying on the floor in the living room, although now there was a blanket thrown haphazardly over her body. Another one of Sasuke's "apologies", she assumed. She grimaced and wondered if she would be able to make it to work with her newly sustained injuries.

Rising slowly so as not to alert Sasuke that she was awake, Sakura stifled the cries of pain that begged to escape her lips. Her knee was on fire, and she seriously questioned her ability to walk. She would definitely have to start walking much earlier than she normally did if she wanted to get to work on time. She hobbled to the bathroom, wincing with every other step. Looking in the mirror, she was pleasantly surprised at how her face looked. The only noticeable mark on her face was her split lip. Dried blood was smeared across her lower lip and chin from the reopened wound and she frowned, thoroughly annoyed that she was still plagued by that stupid cut.

By the time she had finished getting herself ready for the day, Sakura was exhausted. It had taken all of her energy to take a shower and get dressed, although she had been pleasantly surprised when she snuck in the bedroom to grab clothes and found that Sasuke wasn't home. He must have snuck out while she had been passed out on the floor.

Finally, she assessed herself in the mirror one last time. She didn't have the energy to put on any makeup, so the dark circles under her eyes remained uncovered. Her freckles stood out even more than usual and the paleness of her skin was accentuated. She groaned, hoping that her frumpy appearance wouldn't raise any suspicions at work. Her hair was another issue all together. Sakura's arms were so sore and bruised from blocking Sasuke's blows that she didn't have the strength to lift them to blow dry or style her hair, and so it went wild in its natural state: wavy as though she had just left the beach.

Struck with a sudden idea as she was leaving, Sakura hobbled over to the storage closet, pulling on the cord that controlled the light. The light was so blindingly white that Sakura had to blink several times before she could coax her eyes to focus on anything. The room was stacked with mostly boxes, broken picture frames, and old junk that she couldn't even believe that they had anymore. Rummaging around noisily, Sakura found what she was looking for. "Ahha!" she cried to herself.

She had located a single wooden crutch that had definitely seen better days, but she reasoned that it would do the trick. She just needed a little help getting to work and then she would be fine.

Leaving for the second time that morning, this time with the assistance of the crutch, Sakura began to formulate her excuse for her new injuries… _again._ She tossed around several ideas in her head before she finally settled on saying that she had fallen down the stairs on her hurry to get up them last night. She would just say that she had slipped near the top and fallen back down. She nodded to herself; that would definitely explain everything: the screwed-up knee, the bruised arms, the sore ribs, and the split lip. It was a perfect lie that no one could dispute because there was no evidence… No evidence but her word.

But her word wasn't good for anything anymore.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura thought her lungs were going to explode by the time she got to work. She didn't think she had ever struggled for breath so hard in her entire life. She was lucky enough to avoid anyone that she knew on the way up to Gaara's office, and she hoped that the redhead would have one of his reclusive days and hide away in his office all day. For some reason, she didn't like the idea of having to lie to him about this. In addition, she didn't want him to get suspicious. After all, he had seemed very wary to let her get out of the car and go inside to Sasuke last night…

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

Sakura whirled around upon hearing a voice behind her, relief washing over her when she saw that it was Temari and not Gaara.

"Oh god," Sakura breathed heavily, "Sorry, Temari-san, you scared me! Yes, I'm alright. I fell down the stairs last night like an idiot because I was trying to run up them so fast. I'm ridiculously clumsy." Sakura smiled, she hoped convincingly.

Temari was just staring at her, and Sakura didn't like that she couldn't read the blonde woman's expression. Her face appeared totally blank, like she hadn't heard what Sakura had said at all.

"Temari-san?" Sakura asked, starting to get worried that she had offended Temari in some way.

Temari shook her head quickly. "Sorry, Sakura, just got lost in thought there for a moment. That's a real shame, are you feeling okay? I'm sure Gaara-kun wouldn't mind if you went home, he's not even here yet, which is odd…"

"No, no thank you!" Sakura waved her hand nonchalantly. "I already hobbled all the way over here, I might as well stay."

Temari looked at her skeptically and Sakura had the sinking feeling that the woman hadn't believed a word that she had said. "Alright," the blonde replied, "but just let me know if you need anything. Gaara should be here soon, he emailed me this morning saying he might be a little late, something about not sleeping well."

As the blonde woman walked away, something occurred to Sakura. She sat down gingerly at her desk and immediately pulled up her email. She had completely forgotten that she had received an email while she had been lying on the floor last night, and she wondered if it was from Gaara. She smiled upon seeing that it was.

"Sakura, are you okay? You seemed really nervous on your way out of the car. This isn't my place, I know, but if you need me to come back and get you, I will. In fact, if you ever need me to come and get you, I will.

Let me know,

Gaara"

Sakura's heart beat slowed to a nearly imperceptible rhythm. An unexpected feeling swelled up in her chest, and she attempted to suppress the girly giggle that tried to escape her lips. She had no idea why Gaara's attentiveness had this effect on her, but she couldn't ignore the feeling that his words gave to her.

Ino had been worried about her for months, it had been totally obvious, but even though Sakura loved Ino and greatly appreciated her concern, it didn't make her feel nearly as good as when Gaara showed her worry and interest. She had a desperate desire to prove to Gaara that everything was alright, and her new goal for the day was to ease any worries that he might have. She didn't even care that his worrying was actually justified, she just wanted him to feel better.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Temari paced back and forth somewhat maniacally in her office. Where _the fuck_ was Gaara? She was planning on roping him into her attempt to save Sakura no matter what he said. By the looks of things, nothing was improving for the poor pink-haired girl, and Temari had just about had enough of it.

"Woah there, Temari, your crazy is showing," a male voice said from her office door.

Temari looked up immediately. "Kankuro!" She nearly shouted. "Do you know where your stupid brother is?"

Kankura laughed. "Don't you mean _our_ stupid brother?"

"What-the-fuck-ever!" Temari threw her hands up in exasperation. "His secretary came in looking all beat up again and I'm going to force him to help me save her."

Kankuro's expression darkened. "Again? That poor girl…"

"Exactly," Temari sighed. "I just need Gaara to get here so I can-"

Temari was interrupted by a very disheveled looking redhead. "Is Sakura here yet?"

Temari felt her mouth hang open slightly. "Since when do you care?"

Gaara glared daggers at her. "Is she here?"

"Yeah she's here, but Gaara-"

Gaara immediately tried to walk back out the door, but was obstructed by his older brother. "Hold up, bro," Kankuro said seriously. "Listen to Temari for a sec."

"Thank you, Kankuro," Temari nodded her head at the man, "Gaara hang on. I seriously need your help here. I know that you don't want anything to do with this but I really think-"

"I'm in."

"What?" Temari asked, slightly dumbfounded. Had Gaara really just agreed to help her so quickly? "Why the sudden change?"

Gaara shifted uncomfortably and Temari couldn't help but smile slightly at her younger brother. "I drove her home yesterday, twice, and I…I feel…bad for her, I guess."

"Twice?" Temari prompted.

"Yeah, once from work, and then another time last night. Apparently she and Naruto are friends and they ran into each other last night. That's the other reason I want to help. She and Naruto are close. What's important to Naruto is important to me as well, I suppose," Gaara explained.

Temari smiled wickedly. She had known all about Ino's plan to just "run in" to Naruto and Gaara the night before, and it seemed that it had worked perfectly. Gaara was definitely taking an interest in Sakura, whether he would admit it or not.

Gaara narrowed his eyes at her and turned to go, but she called out to stop him, "Gaara, hang on a second."

Gaara stopped but he did not turn around. "What?"

Temari took a deep breath. "I don't know if this bothers you or not, but just in case it does, I thought I would warn you. Sakura's looking pretty beat up again, so just be nice to her, okay? She seems pretty battered."

Gaara swore he felt his blood vessels constrict and his blood pressure rise upon hearing Temari's words. He should never have let her get out of the car last night, he should have insisted on taking her somewhere else. He couldn't help but feel at fault for what had happened. "Noted," he said simply, continuing his walk out of Temari's office, all the while his inner thoughts were swirling around relentlessly in his head.

He swallowed thickly as he walked around the corner, trying to prepare himself for the sight of Sakura. He steeled himself for the worst. His legs felt like they were moving through molasses, every step was a struggle.

He didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until he saw her. The stored up air came rushing out of him then, as he saw Sakura sitting at her desk, a hand holding her ribs as though they were causing her pain. Her split lip had been reopened, he noticed, and the skin around it had darkened in a soft bruise. As she reached across her desk for something, Gaara also couldn't help but notice the bruises lining the outside edge of her forearm; he knew those were defensive bruises. He was now without doubt.

"Sakura," he called, startling her. "What happened to you?" He didn't feel like beating around the bush with her today and so he just came out and said it.

Sakura's heart leapt into her throat. She had no idea what to say; the lies that usually poured so easily from her mouth were gone from her mind the instant her eyes met Gaara's. He stood there staring at her, his eyes a swirling ocean of jade.

"I…I…fell down the stairs last night and I-" Sakura stuttered stupidly, her sentence drifting off into nothingness when Gaara fixed her with a cold glare.

"Sakura, I won't force you to answer my question, but please, just don't lie to me about it," Gaara said, walking smoothly past her desk and all but slamming his office door behind him.

Sakura's heart thudded in her chest painfully. She felt like she was made of stone, like a statue incapable of movement. Seconds, minutes, hours passed and Sakura felt like the weight of the world was resting on her small shoulders. She heaved a painful sigh.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Two weeks passed and Sakura barely saw Gaara at all. She tried to ignore the pang of pain it put in her chest, it wasn't appropriate _at all_. Gaara was her boss, not her friend, and it was best that she accepted that. Her actual friends had been good to her during those two weeks, both Ino and Naruto had invited her out a few times and she had successfully avoided Sasuke's wrath. As a matter of fact, Sasuke didn't hit her at all those fourteen days. He had disappeared for three nights, but that had been the extent of his acting out. Sakura had started to wonder if this meant her relationship with Sasuke was safe.

She didn't know what she wanted.

When Sasuke was a dick, she kind of assumed something big would happen and would result in the end of their relationship, but now…Now things seemed like they were evening out and she wasn't sure that she wanted them to. When Sasuke was being abusive, she actually felt like if it came down to it, she had a way out. However, when he was being more or less a decent boyfriend, Sakura felt she had no real reason to leave. No way out. She cringed at her own distorted thought process.

Glancing at the digital clock on her computer, Sakura realized that it was time for her to head home. Earlier that day, she had decided to sit at her desk until Gaara came out of his office to confront him, but all of her resolve had dissipated like mist in the wind. He didn't want anything to do with her, that much was obvious. She just wished she knew what she had done to anger him so greatly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ino frowned into her swirling cup of coffee. "She's seemed a lot better lately, I don't know what to do. I don't know whether to confront her about it or drop it."

Temari hesitated briefly, "I agree, perhaps they have worked something out…"

"I doubt it," Kankuro scoffed. Kankuro had begun accompanying Temari on her trips to meet with Ino and was now fully caught up on the situation. "People like Sasuke don't change. They may be having a 'good' period, but trust me, shit will go down eventually, and Sakura will be there to take the explosion."

"He has a point," Ino grimaced, "Has Gaara said anything about her lately? Sakura hasn't mentioned him in weeks and usually she was kind of gushing about him."

"Actually," Temari raised her eyebrows, "he hasn't. Gaara has been very distant these past couple of weeks. It's strange because two or so weeks ago, he agreed to help us protect her, and now I can't get two words out of the guy. I don't think he's spoken to Sakura at all, except over email. Maybe they argued."

"Possibly," Ino mused. "Maybe I'll try to get Sakura to come over tonight and I can try and get some information out of her."

Temari nodded. "Good idea, let me know if she says anything about Gaara."

"Will do."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Sasuke had examined the text from Ino himself, he agreed to let Sakura go to visit her for a couple of hours. "Make sure you come home before it gets dark, I don't like the idea of you walking alone," Sasuke spoke to her slowly, as if she were a child.

 _You wouldn't have to worry about that if I could just take the car!_ Sakura's inner self jumped around spastically.

"I will be, don't worry," Sakura smiled. It was much easier to smile at him these days.

He leaned in for a kiss and it almost felt normal; it almost felt like it used to. Sakura was flooded with memories of the good old days, back when she and Sasuke had been happy. She remembered a time when she, Sasuke, and Naruto went to the movies together, and the two boys had gotten along, just for her sake.

"I love you, Sakura," Sasuke said, and Sakura smiled. Those words didn't give her the same thrill that they used to, but hearing them greatly improved her spirits.

"I love you, too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ino nearly growled out loud with frustration. Sakura was like a safe that was impossible to crack. Every question Ino asked was met with a lame answer from Sakura.

" _How's Sasuke?"_

" _He's great, actually!"_

" _How's work?"_

" _Just fine!"_

" _And Gaara?_

" _He seems to be doing alright."_

The only hint of unhappiness from Sakura came when Ino questioned her about Gaara. The blonde couldn't help but notice a slight falter in Sakura's voice along with a small, albeit brief, shift in her mood. A twitch of Sakura's lip betrayed sadness.

"What do you mean, 'he seems to be'? I thought you two were on good terms," Ino asked, crossing her fingers that Sakura would give her more information.

Sakura frowned. "Fine. I think he might be mad at me, but I don't know why. I haven't spoken to him in weeks. Maybe I'm just imagining things, he's definitely not a people person, but the change was pretty sudden. One day he's giving me rides home, the next he's ignoring me completely. I don't get it. I kind of thought we were…I don't know, like _friends_."

Ino felt an intense rush of sympathy for the girl in front of her. Sakura had been her best friend for years, even if they had had a few rough patches here and there. Ino knew Sakura better than anyone, and she could definitely tell that the pink-haired girl was upset. "He seems like a kind of moody guy, Sakura. I'm sure it's not your fault. He's probably just pissed himself off about something silly."

Sakura frowned. She knew that Ino was just trying to make her feel better, but the blonde's words had no effect on her. She knew that Gaara had gotten angry about her injuries and about her lie, but she couldn't exactly explain that to Ino without saying too much. A slip of the tongue and Ino would know her whole secret…

Smiling as innocently as she could, Sakura asked, "How about we watch a movie?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara groaned loudly into his pillow. He hadn't been this miserable in years. Ignoring Sakura had been the most frustrating and uncomfortable thing he'd done in a long time. Seeing her look up at him expectantly whenever he happened to accidentally walk past her was doing damaging things to his mind, and his resolve to ignore her was weakening daily.

He just couldn't handle looking at her, knowing what she was going through. He knew what he was doing was wrong and wasn't helping anyone, but his selfish habits forced him back into his shell and he was comfortable there. Gaara was comfortable pretending nothing bad was happening to Sakura, and as long as he pretended he didn't even notice her, he could live happily in his little fantasy. As a matter of fact, it had been a few days since he'd even thought about it, but now everything was rushing back at him like a dying star…like it always did, eventually.

He'd been ignoring Naruto, too, as he knew his blonde friend would surely have something to say about his current behavior towards Sakura. Naruto had given him space so far, but Gaara knew that it wouldn't last much longer. Anyone who knew Naruto knew that patience was definitely not his strong suit.

Something was going to give, and soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara's head snapped up, eyes wide and startled as someone slammed something heavily on his desk. In front of him, was a very frazzled, very _angry_ Temari. He hadn't even heard her enter his office…

"Would you mind explaining to me," Temari seethed, obviously barely controlling her rage, "what you have done to make Sakura want to quit?"

Gaara did a double-take. Sakura was _quitting_? He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His head was suddenly spinning in a million directions and he could think of no words with which to answer his sister's question. She couldn't be quitting, it was impossible.

"Gaara! What did you do to her?" Temari whisper-yelled, as Sakura was sitting at her own desk on the other side of the door. "You haven't been yourself _at all_ lately. You were so spaced out when I walked in her you didn't even notice me!"

Gaara swallowed thickly. "Is she really quitting?" was all he could say.

"Not if I can help it!" Temari threw her hands in the air, obviously frustrated. "What happened with you two? She said she thinks it would be best for you to find another assistant who would 'cause you less trouble'. What did you say to the poor girl?"

"Nothing!" Gaara said honestly. "I've actually been pretty much ignoring her for the past few weeks."

"You _idiot_ ," Temari breathed, her exhale quivering with barely contained rage. "Why are you so stupid? Can't you see that all this girl needs right now are friends and support? Ignoring her will only make her situation worse! It's vital that we all keep open communication with her so that when she's ready to talk someone will be there to listen! Not to mention, I think she likes you. She probably feels that in essence you've rejected her, and she doesn't need any more pain in her heart. So, Sabuko Gaara, you're going to march your ass right out of this office and make things right with Sakura or so help me god there will be hell to pay."

Gaara let his eyes drop to his desk. He felt awful, to be sure, but there was no way he was going to let Temari see that. "Maybe it's for the best that she quits," Gaara mumbled quietly under his breath, not meaning it at all.

"Stop trying to act so heartless, your stupid games don't work on me, dumbass," Temari rolled her eyes at her little brother, easily seeing the torment swirling in his eyes. "I expect you to have spoken to her by the end of the day."

With those parting words, Temari whirled out of the redhead's office, giving Sakura a brilliant smile as she walked away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaara stared at the clock. It was two minutes till five, which meant he only had two minutes left to go out and talk to Sakura. He felt like an idiot, like a nervous little school boy, and he was ashamed of himself for it. He had stood up on seven different occasions, intent on going out to speak with her, and each time he had sat back down, unable to muster up the courage to do so. There was something intimidating about this situation and he didn't like it. He felt as though he was about to mess something important up, although he had no idea what it was.

Just as he was contemplating the many things Temari might do to him when she found out that he hadn't talked to Sakura, a ridiculously soft knock came from his door. Swallowing heavily, he rose from his desk, approaching the door with something between caution and anxiety, with just a hint of excitement.

He opened the door and she was too close. The top of her head came up to his nose, and so their close proximity put his lips dangerously close to her forehead. Gaara stepped back immediately, and a wave of guilt washed over him when he saw the look on her face. She looked hurt. "Sakura," he choked out.

"I thought I should speak with you myself," Sakura spoke calmly, her face set like stone, any trace of hurt gone from her eyes. "I spoke with Temari-san this morning and gave her my notice."

"Why?" Gaara winced as he heard his voice crack weakly.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't think that it needs to be explained, I know you understand."

Gaara wanted to speak, but he didn't.

He wanted to stop her from walking away.

But he couldn't.

* * *

 **Dun dun duh! Why is Gaara so frustrating?! Whatever will our girl Sakura do? Tune in next time…and don't forget to review!**

 **p.s. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed! I'm sorry if you didn't receive a response to your review, I will be doing my best to respond from now on. I hope you all know that reviews keep me going!**


	6. SIX

**Hello, my sunflowers. I know it's been like 10 years since I've updated this, but I've got a vision for the rest of this story and I think I can take it all the way now. I'm thinking in total we'll hit about 50k words, we'll see…could be more.**

 **If you're still following this story, I appreciate it. I really am sorry, life just got in the way. Leave me a review if you like this chapter, and if you're still interested in me completing this thing.**

 **Brief WARNING: There are non-con elements mentioned in this chapter. There is no rape or sex, but there is a scene where such acts are mentioned and narrowly escaped. This warning is in place just in case this may be triggering to any of my readers. Again, this scene is very mild and nothing explicit happens.**

 **Anyway, I hope you can enjoy this chapter, I thought about splitting it up because it got pretty long…but I figured you deserved it since it's been so long since I've updated. Thank you kindly for your patience :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song You Are My Sunshine.**

* * *

 _You told me once dear, you really loved me,_

 _That no one ever would come between._

 _But now you've left me, and love another,_

 _You have shattered all of my dreams._

SIX

Sakura took a steadying breath as she met her own eyes in the bathroom mirror. She was running, and she knew it. She didn't want to quit her job, she didn't even have something else lined up yet, but she just had to get out of there.

She tried to tell herself that it wasn't because of Gaara…but in her heart she knew that it was. It absolutely and one-hundred percent was. She had let her feelings get confused and now she was paying for it. Dearly.

She hadn't realized that she had developed feelings for him, not really, anyway. Sakura wasn't an idiot, she realized she had a bit of a crush on the man but only because he was cute and had been so nice to her – she hadn't realized that it was anything serious. Not until he stopped talking to her, anyway.

She felt pathetic, she felt like a loser. She had only been on real speaking terms with him for a few weeks, he'd been ignoring her for longer, and here she was, a heartbroken, girlish mess over the boy she liked not speaking to her anymore. Not to mention she had a _boyfriend._

"What a monumental piece of shit you are," she mumbled to her reflection in the mirror. She felt as though she had suffered a devastating loss. Maybe she had.

She stubbed her toe on the way out of the bathroom and cursed loudly. She kicked the doorframe in retribution and only managed to further injure her quickly bruising toe. "Jesus _Christ_!" she exclaimed bitterly, reaching down to rub her sore foot.

"The fuck are you going on about in there, Sakura?"

Sakura immediately bit her lip. She knew better than to be so loud this early in the morning. "Sorry, I stubbed my toe." She tried her best to keep the irritation and worry from her voice.

"Don't be so loud when I'm trying to sleep, it's fucking rude," Sasuke peered at her, bleary-eyed from around the corner. "Where are you going?"

"Work," Sakura deadpanned, turning away from him and heading down the hallway towards the front door.

"I thought you quit?" the sound of Sasuke's footsteps behind her set her on edge.

"I gave them my two-weeks-notice, I still have the rest of this week and next week to work," Sakura explained coolly, picking up her apartment key from the end table. "I don't have another job lined up right now so I can't just quit right out."

"You need to just stay here."

Sakura froze. "I can't, Sasuke. I have to go to work. It's not really an option." She turned the doorknob. "Sorry."

Sasuke's hand slamming on the door beside her face nearly caused her to pee her pants. "What did I literally just say? Why do you never listen to me, Sakura?"

Sakura turned around slowly to face him. There was something…off about his eyes, he was drunk, or maybe high on something, she wasn't sure. All she knew was she had the most uneasy feeling she had ever had while he had her pinned, and something inside of her was screaming at her to run as fast as she possibly could.

He had never raped her. He had certainly coerced her into sex before but she had never outright told him 'no' and had him do it anyway. This time was going to be different and she could tell from the moment he grabbed her hips and tried to drag her towards their bedroom.

"Sasuke, no," she tried to say sternly, but she knew it came out as a squeak. She was no match for him, even though she was peculiarly strong, she was just too small. "I'm serious you need to let me go I don't want to do this."

He slapped her.

She started sobbing as he tossed her at the bed. "Sasuke, please stop. Think about what you're doing to me!"

"Shut-up," Sasuke growled at her, looking at her with so much contempt that she thought she might be sick.

Sakura felt like her eyes opened in that moment. There was no love there. Sasuke didn't love her, and maybe he hadn't for a long time. As he roughly started to try to hike up her skirt, Sakura did something she hadn't done in months. She hit back.

With all her might, she kicked Sasuke as hard as she could between the legs and ducked out from under him. She heard him groan and fall to the floor as she ran out the bedroom door towards the front door of the apartment. She tripped clumsily over the rug at the front door, nearly missing the doorknob with her head as she lost her footing.

She hurled herself around the corner towards the stairs, shrieking awkwardly as she tripped down the steps, rolling head over heels down the metal staircase towards the concrete slab below. She groaned in pain, trying to determine if the headache or the nausea from rolling was worse – a quick touch to her forehead showed blood.

Shaking her head to rid the stars from her vision, Sakura stood on wobbly legs, barely able to think straight but knowing that she absolutely had to get out of there – Sasuke could be behind her at any moment. Starting at a jog and progressing to a run, Sakura tore down the street as fast as her legs would carry her, not stopping to think about where she was running to. Only when she arrived at the glass double doors of the Sabaku building did she realize where her addled brain had taken her: she had told Sasuke she was going to work, and goddamn it, she would.

Smoothing down her hair and skirt to the best of her ability and pausing to catch her ragged breath (she failed miserably), Sakura stomped into the building and straight to the elevators. She refused to think about what had just happened, what had been happening, and how stupid she had been. Sasuke had hit her, cheated on her, and now he had tried to rape her. The decision wasn't made consciously, but she was aware of it all the same: she and Sasuke were over. She was going to tell Ino – and Naruto – everything. She would apologize to Gaara for lying to him…she was going to miss him, after everything was over.

Sakura stepped from the elevator and felt her head swim at the sudden movement. She closed her eyes in a feeble attempt to regain composure.

"Jesus Christ, Sakura!"

The shout nearly startled Sakura into falling over. Her eyes popped open to see Temari standing ten feet in front of her, looking absolutely horrified. "Oh my god, come sit down!" Temari rushed to her side, grasping her elbow and gently leading Sakura to her office. "Wait here," Temari instructed as she quickly bustled from the room.

Sakura sighed, resigning herself to her fate and letting her head fall back against the wall behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Gaara," Temari burst into his office without knocking, "Sakura's here."

Temari couldn't help but notice the way Gaara perked up when she said that. He quickly schooled his face into a neutral expression, but she hadn't miss the slight raise of his eyebrows and the way he straightened up in his chair. "And?" he said nonchalantly, though she detected the slightest hint of strain in his voice.

"And I think that maybe we should call the police."

Gaara's eyes darkened in a way that Temari had not seen in some time, she really hated that look on him. It scared her more than she cared to admit – it reminded her of Gaara's troubled days, when he was always angry and out of control. "For now, call Naruto will you?" she turned her face away from him. "And I'll call her other friend, Ino. It's time someone stepped up and put an end to this."

Gaara simply nodded. "Fine, where is she?"

"She's sitting in my office, looking like she's been hit by a car," Temari pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just call Naruto and then come to my office and help me decide what to do."

Gaara picked up his phone and began to dial.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara stepped out of his office to the sound of yelling. He walked quickly towards the sounds of commotion – towards Temari's office. He didn't like the sound of it.

"What the fuck, Sakura?" a man's voice shouted.

"Sir," he heard his sister's voice, shrill and angry, "I need you to leave right now or I _will_ call security."

"As soon as Sakura gets out here, I will," the man growled.

Gaara turned the corner to finally see who he was dealing with – a thin, but muscular man with inky black hair and eyes as dark as the night. He absolutely reeked of alcohol. This must be Sakura's boyfriend? It was even worse than he imagined.

"You need to leave," Gaara said, addressing the man coolly, "Leave Sakura be."

The man turned to face him, his eyes nearly glowing red with anger. "Don't you dare say my girlfriend's name."

"Sasuke."

Gaara tore his eyes from the man to see a wilted looking Sakura leaning on the doorframe. Even after all she'd been through, a typical Sakura blush was staining her cheeks. She spoke slowly: "You cannot behave like this and you need to go home. Naruto and I will be over to get my things later."

Sasuke took a step towards her, and Gaara didn't miss the way she flinched. Enough was enough. Gaara placed his hand firmly on the man's shoulder, not quite a threat, but still hopefully getting his message across. "It's time to go."

Sasuke shoved Gaara's hand off, scowling at him deeply. He turned his eyes back to Sakura. "This isn't fucking over. I expect you home at the usual time tonight."

The man went stalking off down the hallway, sneering at everyone misfortunate enough to cross his path. There were several people out in the hallways, drawn out of their offices and workspaces by all the yelling. Gaara frowned deeply at Sasuke's retreating form. What an absolute piece of trash, he couldn't believe he had ever been fortunate enough to land someone like…

"Sakura?" Temari's voice drew his eyes back to his pink-haired assistant just in time to see her eyes roll into her head as she fell to the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A dull beeping woke Sakura from what felt like a very deep sleep. She squinted against the light, groaning as she was hit with the full force of her headache. "Oh god," she whined, "Did someone run me over with a dump truck?"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's voice boomed. "Thank god!"

"Naruto?" Sakura mumbled, cracking her eyes open more fully. "What the hell happened?"

"You passed out at work after Sasuke showed up," Ino's voice chimed in and grew closer. "Don't you remember?" Sakura felt Ino's hand grasp her own.

"Oh shit," Sakura placed a hand on her aching forehead. "Yeah, it's coming back to me."

"Sakura…" Ino's voice was hesitant, and Sakura could anticipate what Ino was about to ask about.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, Ino," Sakura said, closing her eyes and letting her head sink further back into her pillow. "You too, Naruto."

The conversation that followed was painful and awkward, and ended with all three of them in tears. Sakura told them about the abuse – all of it – the physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual. She told them how he made her feel and how he had been controlling her for so long. She apologized to her friends and told them she loved them, that she'd be alone without them. It was exhausting but it was also freeing, and Sakura felt as though an immense weight had been lifted from her shoulders, because now her friends were helping her carry it.

Naruto had gone to stand by the window with his back to her, and Sakura could see the tenseness in his shoulders – she knew it was taking everything he had not to leave the hospital right then to go deal with Sasuke. She had no doubt there would be a fight between the two of them, probably a physical one. As much as she loved Naruto, and he loved her, she doubted she would be able to stop him.

Ino was still sitting at her bedside, staring at the wall, clearly lost in thought. She was frowning, tear tracks still marking her beautiful face. She had bawled her eyes out during Sakura's stories, so much so that Sakura had felt immensely guilty for telling her at all. But it had to be done, and as it was, Sakura was very glad that her friends knew the truth. The pain of lying to them had been almost as great as the pain Sasuke had inflicted.

"I hate to bother you two, but could someone find my nurse and see if I could get something for this headache?" Sakura closed her eyes tightly against the throbbing in her head.

"I got it!" Naruto went bounding out of the room, obviously thrilled to have been given a task. Sakura suspected he would be begging her for errands to run on her behalf for the next week. His affection was very much shown through acts of kindness.

Ino had remained silent through the short exchange, eyes still not moving from the wall that she had been staring at so intently.

"Ino?" Sakura prompted, squeezing her friend's hand lightly. "What's wrong?"

This was apparently the wrong thing to ask, as a new wave of tears sprung to Ino's eyes and a stifled sob escaped her lips.

"Ino!" Sakura sat up, and the world around her began to spin violently. "Woah, bad decision," Sakura moaned, letting herself fall back to bed, clutching her stomach to try to suppress the sudden nausea.

"I should have helped you, Sakura!" Ino practically shouted, and Sakura flinched at the noise (she desperately hoped that reaction would go away soon). "I'm sorry," Ino lowered her volume, touching her friend's arm. "But Sakura…Sakura I _knew_ something was wrong but I didn't know what to do and now look at you. You're in the hospital and I should have stopped it."

Sakura sighed, cracking her eyes open to look at her best friend. "Ino. Stop. This wasn't your fault. The blame here lies with Sasuke, and Sasuke alone. I wouldn't have let you help me…believe me. You tried to do something for me and I wouldn't let you. Don't beat yourself up."

Ino swiped at her eyes with her hand, and she felt her heart swell with love for her pink-haired friend. Sakura was lying in a hospital bed, with a concussion, two broken ribs, and a myriad of other injuries and she was the one trying to comfort others. She had a healer's heart – she always had. "You look exhausted," Ino smoothed Sakura's bangs from her face. "Take a nap, Naruto and I will come back to see you tonight after you've gotten to rest."

"Alright," Sakura smiled and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Ino."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Sakura woke up, she was alone. Naruto and Ino must not have come back yet – she glanced at the clock and saw that it had only been a couple of hours since they left. There was a nurse bustling around beside her bed, fiddling with her IV pole. Sakura reached for her cup of water.

"Oh, good, you're awake" the nurse smiled at her. "Does that redheaded boy like you?"

Sakura nearly choked on her water. "What?" she asked, in between coughs.

The nurse looked at her knowingly, a sparkle in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. "He was in and out of your room, pacing like a madman while you were sedated and resting, before he finally flew out of here like a bat out of hell. Not sure where he was going."

Sakura could feel herself blushing as she examined her fingernails. "That's strange. He's my boss, actually." Attempting to change the subject, Sakura asked, "Why was I sedated?"

"After your friends left, you got very anxious and upset. The doctor ordered some anxiety medication to help you relax," the nurse said sympathetically, pulling a chair up near her bed. "I know you might not want to talk about it right now, but can you tell me anything about what happened to you?"

Sakura felt her blush extend all the way to her toes. Looking pointedly out the window, she tried to speak – no words came out. It had been so much easier talking to Ino and Naruto, talking to a stranger was something completely different.

She felt the nurse's hand cover her own, "Do you feel safe at home?"

The weight of those words was almost too much for Sakura to bear. She felt knew tears spring to her eyes as the reality dawned on her. She _wasn't_ safe in her own home. That was the pathetic truth. She choked on a sob, "No."

The nurse sighed and squeezed her hand, "We can help, if you'll let us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There were too many people in her room. Sakura felt guilty, but that was the only thought in her head as she gazed around, smiling tiredly at everyone. She couldn't really blame them, after-all, they were all just worried about her. Naruto and Ino (who had brought Sai back with her) were there, as well as Kankuro and Temari…but no sign of Gaara. She wanted to ask about him, but was too afraid of how it would sound. She had been worried about him ever since her nurse had explained his odd behavior to her.

"Sakura, has Gaara been here?" Temari asked, as if reading her mind.

The pink-haired girl scratched her head, "The nurse said he was in here while I was passed out, but then she said he left in a hurry."

"That's odd, he hasn't been answering his cell phone," Temari frowned, "I wonder where he is."

Sakura shrugged sympathetically, "Yeah, I'm sorry. I have no idea."

Temari waved her hand, "It doesn't matter. He'll turn up eventually, he always does."

"He always does?" Sakura pushed herself up to a sitting position in bed, trying to keep the apparent interest from her voice. "Does he disappear a lot?"

"He used to," Kankuro spoke up. "When he'd get angry or depressed. Which used to be _constantly_ ," the last word was punctuated with a deep frown.

"Sakura," Ino spoke up, clearly trying to change the subject. "Would you like to come stay with me and Sai after you get discharged?"

"Oh, Ino, I don't want to put you out like that, you already have two people living in your one-bedroom," Sakura picked at the blanket on her bed nervously, feeling everyone's eyes on her.

"Stay with me, Sakura-chan!" Naruto nearly shouted. "It would be so fun!"

"Naruto," Sakura smiled at her friend, "You and Hinata are busy planning a wedding and your apartment is even smaller than Ino's. I can just stay in a hotel or something until I can move to my own apartment."

Ino and Naruto both started speaking at once, both vehemently protesting that she go anywhere other than their respective apartments. Sakura was about to speak up and gracefully turn them both down again when everyone in the room was surprised by a voice in the doorway.

"She could stay with me."

All eyes turned to see Gaara standing in the doorway, hands shoved deep into his pockets and looking more than a little awkward. "I've got a spare room."

Naruto was on his feet immediately. "That's an amazing idea! Gaara's place is _huge_! And that means every time I go visit Gaara, I'll see Sakura too! It's perfect." The blonde was practically prancing around the room with glee.

"Gaara-san," Sakura nearly choked on his name, "I appreciate the offer, but I could never put you out like that."

"No!" Naruto spun on her. "Sakura-chan, _please_! Do this for me! I would feel _so_ much better if you were staying with Gaara. If you won't stay with me or Ino, you don't really have a choice because there is no way in hell I'm letting you stay in a hotel alone."

"It's no trouble, Sakura," Gaara said, making eye-contact with her for the first time since he had shown up in the doorway.

Sakura blushed and internally berated herself for being childish. He was offering her a place to stay to be nice, not for any other reason. "Um, I have a cat, and I'd hate to leave her behind, so I wouldn't want to force that on you."

Gaara simply shrugged. "I like cats."

"Well, I…" Sakura didn't know what to say, she could feel everyone watching her and was beginning to feel very overwhelmed.

Naruto dropped dramatically to his knees beside her bed, hands clasped as though in prayer. "Please, Sakura-chan. I would feel so much better and Gaara is so great."

Sakura smiled at Naruto, she really would do anything for him, and he knew exactly how to manipulate her. "Um, alright. I guess for a little while, until I can get a place figured out." She turned to Gaara, desperately hoping that her face wasn't too red. "Thank you, Gaara."

Gaara simply nodded, entering the room to sit next to his sister, who patted him on the shoulder and smiled. She was clearly happy with his offer.

"Oh my, it's like a party in here!" a nurse said, upon entering the room. "Miss Sakura, your doctor has approved you for discharge! Here in a couple of hours, we'll be able to get you out of here. I just need to get your prescriptions in order."

Sakura smiled at the woman, happy to be getting to leave but extremely nervous that she was also about to go home with Gaara. "Ah, alright. That sounds good."

The nurse smiled at her and left the room.

"Sakura," Ino spoke up, "I'll drive you to the store to pick up some things you'll need for tonight. Then I can take you to Gaara's. Tomorrow, Naruto and I can take you back to your old place and get your stuff."

"Thanks, Ino. That's perfect," Sakura replied, trying to feel grateful instead of terrified.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura got pajamas, underwear, a tooth brush with toothpaste, shampoo, and a phone charger at the store. She figured that would be enough to get her through the night until she could get the rest of her things. Plus, she didn't really have the extra money to spend on unnecessary things, although that isn't what she told Ino.

"And you're sure you're okay with this?" Ino asked for the millionth time, "You can still stay with me, if you want."

"No, it's okay Ino, this will be fine," Sakura reassured her friend as they turned onto Gaara's street. "Naruto trusts Gaara, and so I do too."

Ino consented, pulling up to the front of Gaara's building. " _Damn,_ this guy must be rich."

Sakura simply nodded in agreement, staring in awe at the high-rise building Gaara lived in. It looked extremely fancy, a much different type of place than Sakura lived in, to be sure. She swallowed heavily, even more nervous now than she had been a moment ago. Thanking Ino and getting out of the car with her grocery bag, Sakura walked the short distance up to the building.

Gaara was waiting for her at the door. They exchanged slightly stuffy and awkward hellos and Gaara led her into the building, nodding politely to the doorman as they passed him. They walked to the elevator, which took them to the eighth floor.

"Is that all you brought?" Gaara asked, eyeing her grocery bag.

"Uh, yeah," Sakura said sheepishly. "I figured I'll be getting the rest of my stuff tomorrow and I couldn't really afford to buy a bunch of extra stuff."

Sakura almost smacked herself. Why was it that she had been so careful not to say anything about money in front of Ino, but in the first full sentence out of her mouth to Gaara she confessed that she could barely afford basic necessities? It's like when she spoke to him she lost her filter and just blurted anything out.

Gaara looked troubled at this, and she instantly wished she could take it back. "I can buy you some things if you need them, Sakura."

His words shocked her. When had he gotten so nice? Their very first meeting he had been nearly hostile, then he had gotten friendly, but lately he'd been so distant. She'd barely spoken to him in a month. Where was all this politeness coming from? This concern for her well-being?

"No way, Gaara-san," Sakura cringed at how rude it sounded. "You're already doing so much for me. I should buying something for you, or paying you something, or-"

The look on Gaara's face stopped her from speaking. He was looking her like she had turned blue and sprouted flowers from her face.

"You're joking," he said, after a moment's pause. "I would never expect you to pay me anything. I'm doing you a favor, as a…as a friend." He stopped in front of apartment number 832, and began fishing for his keys in his pockets. "Sakura," he began slowly, avoiding eye contact. "I need to…apologize, I suppose. I shouldn't have been ignoring you when you clearly needed someone. I was just, confused, I suppose."

Sakura wondered if she dared ask the question. "Confused about what?"

At that moment, Gaara got the door unlocked. He stepped inside and made room for her to do the same, turning to face her. They were standing close, so close that Sakura had to tilt her head back a bit to see his face. They locked eyes in that moment and Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Gaara licked his lips as though he was going to speak, but he said nothing.

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when Gaara's phone rang, effectively breaking the moment. He kept his eyes on her, however, while he fished around in his pocket, finally pulling out his phone. He only turned away from her when he put the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he answered, irritation more than evident in his voice. "No, I can't come in tonight. I'll figure it out tomorrow." He hung up without saying goodbye.

Sakura barely noticed. She was too busy being blown away by Gaara's apartment. It was beautiful. It was minimally furnished, but everything was very clearly expensive. Not to mention, his living room alone was close to the size of Sakura's entire apartment. She walked slowly to the large window looking out over the city. She decided right then that she would be sad when she had to leave and go back to a place that she could afford.

"Ah, Gaara-san," Sakura began, continuing to look out the window wistfully. "My lease isn't up for about two months. I know this is asking a lot, but can I stay here until then? I'll have to pay rent for my old place, and, well, since I've already clearly divulged that I don't have much money, I won't be able to afford paying rent twice."

She heard Gaara move to stand beside her, but she didn't turn to look at him. She could feel the warmth in her cheeks and she was too embarrassed to let him see her blushing again.

"Of course, you can, Sakura," he mumbled. "But, uh, not that it's my business, but why do you have to pay rent at your old place?"

Sakura sighed, there was no point in hiding anything from him now. "Sasuke won't pay the rent, I doubt he even knows how much it is or how to pay it. I wouldn't care except the lease is in my name and I don't want an eviction on my record."

Gaara scowled, "You're too good, Sakura."

His simple words warmed her heart. She smiled up at him, "That's nice of you to say, Gaara-san."

"Please go back to calling me Gaara," the redhead said, eyes still pointed out the window. "I… think I miss it."

"Alright then," Sakura said slowly, turning to face the man. "Gaara."

How did they always wind up standing so close together? And why did standing so close together make her feel so fluttery? Her nose was nearly brushing his chin.

Gaara cleared his throat awkwardly, taking a step back and looking at the floor. "Ah, your room is the third door down the hall on the left. There's a bathroom connected to it that no one has even used since Naruto got drunk and spent the night a few months ago. I hired a cleaning service to take care of _that_ mess," Gaara snorted, shaking his head.

Sakura laughed out loud, "I'm sure that was a nightmare. Naruto is certainly a handful."

Gaara chuckled, "He is, isn't he?"

"A lovable one," Sakura smiled. "Can you believe that goofball is getting married soon?"

"No, I honestly can't," Gaara said, scratching the back of his head. "It's even harder for me to believe that I have to be the best man in that wedding. As much as I love Naruto, and am excited for him, I'm not necessarily ready to play such an important role in his big day."

"Naruto is obsessed with you! There's no way he'd be able to get through the day without you," Sakura patted Gaara good-naturedly on the arm, pulling her hand back when she thought maybe she had let it linger too long.

"Obsessed with me?" Gaara asked her, stepping into the kitchen, "I think that's you." He looked up at her from the other side of the countertop. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Can I just have some water?" Sakura asked, walking to lean up against the counter and looking into the kitchen.

The redhead handed her a water glass with flowers on it.

"What a pretty cup," Sakura smirked at him coyly.

"Oh god, first my car, now my cup," Gaara sighed dramatically, glancing at her over his own drink. "Are you trying to emasculate me, Sakura-san?"

Sakura gaped at him. "My, my, Gaara- _san_ , are you teasing me?"

Gaara simply smiled into his drink.

A sudden rush of dizziness washed over Sakura, reminding her that she still had a concussion, along with other injuries she should be taking care of. She closed her eyes in an attempt to steady herself.

"Shit, Sakura," Gaara's voice was suddenly much closer. She felt one of his hands close around her arm and she jerked violently, instinctively.

She opened her eyes in horror, she knew he had just been trying to steady her, but whenever someone touched her unexpectedly she couldn't help but jump most of the time. He was standing a few feet away from her now, his hands held up by his shoulders and a wary look on his face.

"Gaara," she began, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize, Sakura," Gaara let his hands fall to his sides, "I shouldn't have done that."

"No, it's not your fault," the pink-haired girl sighed, "I very clearly have issues. I'm so sorry." Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, as she felt tears springing to her eyes, "I'm going to head to bed, Gaara. Thank you so much for everything. I guess I'll see you in the morning? Could you maybe give me a ride to work?"

Gaara's mouth fell open. "Work? Sakura, you are under no circumstances going to work tomorrow. You have a _concussion._ You're definitely taking work off tomorrow. I have to go in for a little bit, but I'm planning to come back early and help you get your stuff and get situated."

Sakura's eyes became wet with new tears. "Gaara, thank you. Why…why are you being so nice to me?"

Gaara shrugged, looking away from her. "You deserve it."

Without thinking, Sakura stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his middle. He stiffened up immediately, but she was too tired and fed up with the day to let him go right away. After a heart-stopping moment, she felt one of his hands raise to rest on the small of her back, the other between her shoulder blades. They stayed there for almost a full minute, and Sakura breathed in the smell of him.

It snapped her back to reality. Gaara was her boss and she had just gotten out of an abusive, long-term relationship. She was probably just latching on to him because he was being nice to her and she was lonely. "I'm going to get some sleep," she turned, breaking eye contact with him. "Goodnight, Gaara."

"Goodnight, Sakura," she heard him echo behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara laid awake in bed for hours. All she had done was hug him and he had turned into a mushy pile of schoolboy. He was most certainly in trouble. He had been forced to realize his feelings towards Sakura when he witnessed her interacting with Sasuke. He hadn't felt that angry in a very long time, especially not on behalf of someone he didn't know all that well. He was filled with a desire to protect her and make her happy and keep her safe – some of the main reasons he had invited her to stay with him. He knew it was selfish, but he wanted to have her in his sight whenever possible.

She'd hugged him out of gratitude, or perhaps loneliness and confusion, and he'd let her. There was no way her feelings for him matched his own – he should have stopped it before he let himself take advantage and hold onto her. He was hugging her for a different reason entirely.

But now he missed it. He didn't hug people often…the last time had probably been Temari on her birthday. He never had the urge to hug anyone. With Sakura, though…he may not have started it, but he surely hadn't wanted it to end.

Giving up on sleep, Gaara rubbed his eyes and stood from his bed. Insomnia wasn't uncommon for him, but tonight he had really wanted to sleep in an attempt to forget about the girl sleeping just two doors down the hall.

Yawning defeatedly, he padded silently with his bare feet past Sakura's room, pausing when he thought he heard something.

She was crying.

He groaned to himself, angry that he had thought getting out of bed would be a good idea. He shifted back and forth uncomfortably, trying to decide how inappropriate it would be for him to knock on her door. He never had to decide.

Sakura's door flew open and he was faced with a red, tear-stained face. She looked horrified. "Did I wake you?" she asked, furiously swiping the remaining tears from her cheeks.

Gaara felt just as flustered as she looked. "No, I just couldn't sleep and was going to watch some TV and I…well, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Sakura replied, clearly lying as her voice was thick from crying. "I was just going to get some more water."

"Ah," Gaara mumbled, stepping further down the hall to get out of her way. "Don't let me stop you." He heard her walking softly down the hall behind him, and he was suddenly very conscious of the way he was walking. God help him, he was in very far over his head.

He sat down on the couch as he heard her turn on the tap in the kitchen, he was scrolling through the channels when she came back around the corner. She stood there staring at the wall, not looking at him, but not going back to her room either.

Gaara opened his mouth to say something: to apologize for hugging her, to explain why he was standing outside her door, but she beat him to speaking.

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a while?"

Gaara parted his lips. He hadn't been expecting that. "Not at all."

She sat on the other end of the couch, and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Anything in particular you want to watch?"

"They usually run _Magnum P.I._ reruns right around now," Sakura said absently, staring at the TV listlessly.

"How do you know that?" Gaara asked, raising his eyebrows when he indeed saw the show listed on the TV guide.

"I slept on the couch at home, I left the TV on most nights," Sakura explained, no hint in her voice that she was upset by the fact.

Gaara had no idea what to say to that, so he chose not to say anything. Maybe the best thing he could do for Sakura was offer silent companionship. He'd talk to her if she wanted, he'd wait for her to start a conversation. He most certainly wouldn't be ignoring her anymore.

He made the decision then: he was going to be there for her.

* * *

 **AN: well, that's it for now. I still feel like this feels rushed but you guys deserve a chapter so I'm putting it up anyway. Please leave me a review, I'm really going to do my best to finish this story :)**

 **Anyway, it's after midnight and I have to be up in less than five hours…wish me luck.**


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